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ATLANTA, GEORGIA – JANUARY 17: Head coach Joe Mazzulla of the Boston Celtics reacts against the Atlanta Hawks during the fourth quarter at State Farm Arena on January 17, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Boston Celtics<\/a> head coach Joe Mazzulla is facing an intense backlash following his dismissal of the NBA Coach of the Year award nomination.\u00a0<\/p>\n The 37-year-old coach called it a \u201cstupid\u201d honor that \u201cshouldn\u2019t\u201d exist during his latest press conference after it was announced that he was a candidate to receive the award.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mazzulla\u2019s Celtics are chasing a top seed in the East, and while his comments may have been aimed at giving most of the credit to his players, the way he said it has been heavily criticized, especially in the context of honoring NBA<\/a> coaches.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ex-Boston star blasts Mazzulla<\/p>\n Introduced since the beginning of the league in the \u201860s, the Coach of the Year award honors the best head coach in the regular season, which is decided by votes from a panel of broadcasters and journalists. It bears a significant history, one that Mazzulla isn\u2019t eager to share.\u00a0<\/p>\n One of the first to jump into criticizing the Boston head coach was current ESPN analyst and former Celtics big Kendrick Perkins<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n He has a close relationship with the young coach but called his comments highly disrespectful<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is one of the most asinine, disrespectful things that I\u2019ve ever heard, seriously,\u201d Perkins said. \u201cAnd you can\u2019t say that, it\u2019s disrespectful to the people that came before you, the great coaches.\u201d<\/p>\n The Celtics have been one of the best teams this season especially in a campaign without Jayson Tatum<\/a> for the majority of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n The 28-year-old forward returned to full action just last month after going off injured in last year\u2019s playoff second round. Most of the main responsibility has fallen to Jaylen Brown<\/a>, who is having a career year, and Mazzulla doesn\u2019t feel he as a coach needs to be rewarded instead of the players.<\/p>\n True to his form, he seems likely to backtrack, preferring to keep the spotlight on his players. His focus remains to guide the Celtics to the best possible finish rather than hardware and recognition.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mazzulla\u2019s coaching philosophy under scrutiny<\/p>\n Mazzulla has always deflected a lot of praise for his achievements. He helped Boston reach the NBA Finals in his first full season and has maintained contention since.\u00a0<\/p>\n GettyDETROIT, MICHIGAN \u2013 OCTOBER 26: Joe Mazzulla head coach of the Boston Celtics. (Photo by Nic Antaya\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n Boston\u2019s front office led by Brad Stevens has built an environment with a culture of collective success, which Mazzulla often references. However, critics like Perkins argue that outright calling the award \u201cdumb\u201d crosses a line by diminishing the achievements of past winners.\u00a0<\/p>\n As the regular season winds down and all focus shifts to the playoff, the Celtics will look to move past this controversy and aim for a deep postseason. However, the NBA still has to hand the award of the Coach of The Year whether Mazzulla likes it or not.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Boston head coach is a top favorite but will face tough contention, especially from Detroit Pistons<\/a> head coach J.B. Bickerstaff, whose team is above Celtics in the standings.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tAdel Ahmad<\/a> Adel is a writer with over five years of experience covering the NBA. His work has appeared on various media platforms, both national and local. More about Adel Ahmad<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Celtics\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty ATLANTA, GEORGIA – JANUARY 17: Head coach Joe Mazzulla of the Boston Celtics reacts against the Atlanta…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":692984,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3766],"tags":[7,45,75,3798,46,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-692983","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boston-celtics","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-boston","10":"tag-boston-celtics","11":"tag-bostonceltics","12":"tag-celtics","13":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116332471296985084","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692983","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=692983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692983\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/692984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=692983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=692983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=692983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2243186103.jpg\")
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