Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla is now sitting on a blazing hot seat after his team fell down 0-3 to the Heat with an embarrassing Game 3 loss.
Joe Mazzulla has been the head coach of the Boston Celtics for eight months. He’s had the permanent gig without an “interim” title for less, only picking up a contract extension in February. He has some explaining to do if he wants to keep it.
Mazzulla proved capable of getting the Celtics the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, but the performance of the head coach and his team in the Eastern Conference Finals has been nothing short of embarrassing.
Boston lost two relatively close games to the Heat in Boston. Their season was essentially hanging in the balance in Game 3. And they fell flat on their faces in the most uninspiring way possible.
After Sunday’s 128-102 loss, Mazzulla was asked by a reporter if he has lost the locker room.
“Yeah, it’s why I need to be better to figure out what this team needs,” he admitted.
That’s…not good.
Mazzulla may have given Brad Stevens and the Celtics reason why he should lose his job as well.
NBA Twitter openly questioned the head coach and his employment status.
Joe Mazzulla’s seat should be on fire after Game 3 loss
Mazzulla has admitted to being obsessed with the movie The Town as a way to access the Boston mindset. Instead of putting him in the right headspace, it’s just made the head coach the subject of every meme possible.
Mazzulla landed the Celtics job at just 34 years old after Ime Udoka was suspended for the season because of his off-the-court behavior. The interim tag was removed in February when Boston named him the permanent head coach and gave him a multi-year extension.
That extension is probably the thing that saves Mazzulla from being fired. It’s simply too early into his tenure. Still, there are huge championship-winning names available during this particular coaching carousel.
At the very least, Mazzulla’s job will be safe until Tuesday, when the Celtics take the floor for Game 4. If they fail to show any sort of fight, Boston may have to consider the drastic measure.