Three starters were benched early in the third quarter by Joe Mazzulla, who explained the decision by saying it was part of his accountability after the game. In the next timeout, Jayson Tatum addressed his teammates angrily. Following a startling defeat to the undermanned Lakers, Kristaps Porzingis remembered his coach’s words.
“It was excellent, exactly on point once more,” Porzingis said to CLNS Media following the game. He was stating that we cannot because, as he and I both sensed, even though we haven’t lost many games this season, it wasn’t the end of the world; we will still be down and play bad games like we did tonight. We must persevere. We trail 4-5 after two stops, two scores, and a deficit of 10.It’s a whole unrelated game. We simply must continue as we are because, should the game not go entirely in our favour, we will find ourselves back in similar circumstances to what we experienced tonight. It’s our ability to move past that.
In response, Tatum blasted the Lakers wing to the ground with a Rui Hachimura bump to the chest at the top of the three-point line. With the Celtics behind 77-71 following a dismal first half performance that enraged fans already upset over LeBron James and Anthony Davis skipping a big game for the Lakers, he dove on top of him.
It turned into a brief burst of enthusiasm in a new low for Boston. With a double-digit lead that they largely kept, the Lakers surprised Boston, winning 114-105. Mazzulla mostly ignored the defeat and repeatedly chuckled after the game. He addressed the squad in a different way, no doubt, and acknowledged that the defeat was unjustified and based on effort, but he argued that the team had made mistakes before getting personal about why the lesson of not letting up was misunderstood.
All of it came after a game that, despite the loss, might have shown a newfound sense of urgency from Mazzulla and the players to break out of a recent slump that didn’t damage the team’s record. They let up against the Pelicans the previous night and wasted a 20-point lead against the Pacers on Tuesday. While self-correction prevented catastrophe, those situations do happen. On Thursday, Porzingis brought up one of Mazzulla’s topics. That in a victory where a team may have avoided poor play, lessons may nevertheless remain unlearned. Players who spoke after Mazzulla indicated a desire to address the problems that beset the Lakers defeat, but he refused to acknowledge them. A team that had previously requested strict coaching seemed prepared for some rough talk.
“We don’t mince words,” Jaylen Brown declared. This is not a nice place to be, despite his admission that he is delighted. We want to play the game correctly; we don’t want to develop negative habits. We want to protect, guard, and show respect for our opponents. To achieve that, you have to do those things every single night, and we fell short of that tonight. It is my obligation as the team’s leader.
After a 5-0 LA run to end the first half, Mazzulla was trailing 14 points at the break. Three minutes into the third, he pulled Jrue Holiday, Brown, and Porzingis, only to put Holiday back on the floor while the bench ignited the game. After a strong 4-0 start that immediately gave way to two uncontested transition run-outs by Taurean Prince and D’Angelo Russell, he decided to use a timeout now rather than waiting until later.
