Joe Mazzulla Answered Live Questions From Boston Sports Radio Callers And It Went Exactly How You Expect

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As part of Joe Mazzulla's weekly radio hit on the Zo & Bertrand show (shoutout my pal Tim McKone), in an effort to switch things up this season, Mazzulla threw out the idea of opening the phone lines in real time and having Boston radio callers ask Joe anything and everything live on air. I've always felt like Joe has been more open and honest during his appearances on this show than the boilerplate PR responses we tend to get during his official pressers, so I was excited for this idea. As we know, Boston sports fans are completely deranged individuals, especially when it comes to Joe Mazzulla and Boston Celtics. 

While Joe isn't the only coach who has a weekly radio hit (Vrabel does one on WEEI on Mondays), to my knowledge this is the first instance of a coach being on the other end of live callers asking questions.

So how did it go? Exactly like you'd expect

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I mean, we had everything in that segment. 

His answer to the question of whether they're better without Jaylen was perfect. It's not about being better or worse, it's about being different. Different doesn't mean better or worse, it just means different. 

When asked about end of quarter offense (Tatum holding the ball) and why there's never anything better drawn up, he didn't run from it. Instead, he shed some light on their entire approach. Ending the quarter on offense and securing the 2 for 1. Not groundbreaking stuff, every team in the NBA tries to capitalize 2 for 1 situations, but what I found interesting is that they want to avoid ending quarters on the defensive end. I wouldn't think it mattered as long as you executed on offense, but that was certainly notable. Along those lines he was then asked is it better to have two dogshit possessions compared to one good oen (2 for 1), and his answer there made a lot of sense as well. Sure, there are times when one of those possessions may end up in a bad shot, but that's not always the case. In this answer he once again hammered home their way of thinking

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1. Play to the strengths of your team (shooting)

2. Take the shot you can create based on what the defense gives you (Mazzulla Ball)

3. Lean into offensive rebounding to get more shots 

I know people tend to dislike the 2 for 1, but I never understood why especially when for this team it's ALL ABOUT shot margin and taking more shots than your opponent. Plus, it goes deeper than 2 for 1. This team operates by maximizing the 3 for 2 as well thanks to Chris Paul

Then of course, we got the question about shooting 3s. Will they shoot more 3s this year? Will Joe adjust his philosophy in the playoffs and stop taking 3s? I'd say those are two things that some fans care the most about and is the biggest knock on Joe and his philosophy. Will those people accept his answer of "it depends"? Probably not, because despite being the truth, it's not what they want to hear. The way he explained the situations and factors that go into it is the reality, but as we know, any time the Celtics lose people that are anti-Mazzulla just scream "3PT SHOOTING!!!!!!!!!". It's exhausting.

Meanwhile, they probably have no idea that in all 4 of the Celts playoff losses to the Sixers last postseason, a higher percentage of their shots were 2s and not 3s. The 3 wins? A higher percentage were 3s.

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Even dating back to some of their horrific losses to the Heat in 2023, if you actually watched or even go back and look, you can see a similar trend. For example, in GM1 against MIA, the Celtics had 60 points in the paint but got killed by the 3pt variance because MIA took way more and made way more 3s. Yet if you hear people talk about that series, they blame the Celtics 3pt shooting. Yet they ignore the part where the Celts forced a Game 7 because the Heat's 3s cooled off and the Celts stopped trading 2s for 3s. Oh well.

But I digress. Overall, I'm excited for this segment to continue once the actual games start. I think it'll be fascinating to hear Joe face the music when some of his decisions don't work out or why he didn't do something. Maybe he'll become more guarded once the games start to count, but based on our first go around it seems like he's willing to be honest. You may not like or agree with his answer, but at least he has the guts to go back and forth with his fanbase.