{"id":689970,"date":"2026-03-31T14:21:28","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T14:21:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/689970\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T14:21:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T14:21:28","slug":"celtics-coach-joe-mazzulla-criticizes-coach-of-the-year-award-amid-backlash-from-fans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/689970\/","title":{"rendered":"Celtics Coach Joe Mazzulla Criticizes Coach of the Year Award Amid Backlash from Fans"},"content":{"rendered":"

Boston Celtics<\/a> head coach Joe Mazzulla entered the 2025-26 NBA<\/a> season facing a defining test.<\/p>\n

The team lost key contributors in the offseason. Superstar Jayson Tatum<\/a> also missed the first 62 games after rupturing his Achilles in the 2025 playoffs.\u00a0Few gave the Celtics a realistic shot at contending without their franchise cornerstone.<\/p>\n

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With Mazzulla steering the ship, the Celtics now sit second in the Eastern Conference at 50-24. They have clinched a playoff berth and are 7-3 in their last 10 games with Tatum back in the lineup<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mazzulla keeps collecting praise. Yet he does not seem to want it, leaving fans and pundits alike baffled.<\/p>\n

\"Boston<\/p>\n

Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla.\u00a9 David Butler II-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

(\u00a9 David Butler II-Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

Mazzulla exhibited leadership, guidance and brilliance amid some of the toughest circumstances of his coaching career.<\/p>\n

It comes as no surprise that he has emerged as a frontrunner for the 2025-26 NBA Coach of the Year award<\/a> (COTY). The recognition is well-earned. It is also, apparently, unwanted.<\/p>\n

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Mazzulla addressed the COTY buzz before Monday’s 112-102 road loss to the Atlanta Hawks<\/a>, a defeat that snapped Boston’s three-game winning streak. The Celtics coach did not hold back.<\/p>\n

Sporting News reporter Steph relayed his response on X.<\/p>\n

“I think it’s a stupid award,” Mazzulla said. They shouldn’t have it. It’s more about the players. It’s more about the work that the staff puts in. It’s that simple, and I don’t ever want to be asked or talk about it again.”<\/p>\n

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The remarks drew immediate backlash online.<\/p>\n

“Biggest tryhard in the league,” one commenter wrote.<\/p>\n

“Mazzulla is the PM who skips the award ceremony to help the team clear the next sprint’s backlog elite mindset,” a user added.<\/p>\n

“Dude thinks he’s cool by being edgy and anti-establishment. In reality it’s tiresome and annoying. Just accept the praise,” another one said.<\/p>\n

“Can he be normal for like two seconds?” a user asked.<\/p>\n

“He’s a terrible coach and he knows he can’t win it,” another chimed in.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

“Bro a good coach but he try too hard to be weird,” said a reaction read.<\/p>\n

The irony is hard to ignore. Mazzulla finished third in COY voting in 2022-23 and fourth the following season. The hardware has eluded him. Whether he likes it or not, that may be about to change.<\/p>\n

Related: Celtics Announce Jaylen Brown Injury Update Before Hawks Game<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Athlon Sports<\/a> on Mar 31, 2026, where it first appeared in the NBA<\/a> section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla entered the 2025-26 NBA season facing a defining test. The team lost…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":689971,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3766],"tags":[208,7,45,75,3798,46,87152,1409,77,2675,6,380],"class_list":{"0":"post-689970","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boston-celtics","8":"tag-atlanta-hawks","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-boston","11":"tag-boston-celtics","12":"tag-bostonceltics","13":"tag-celtics","14":"tag-coty","15":"tag-eastern-conference","16":"tag-jayson-tatum","17":"tag-joe-mazzulla","18":"tag-nba","19":"tag-steph"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116324237039360744","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=689970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689970\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/689971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=689970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=689970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=689970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}