The best quotes from Joe Mazzulla as the head coach of the Celtics originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Joe Mazzulla might be the most interesting man in the NBA.
The head coach of the Boston Celtics has made a name for himself not only as the leader of the reigning champions, but also as one of the most unique personalities in the sport. His one-of-a-kind mentality was pointed out NBC Sports Boston’s “Mazzulla” documentary.
Mazzulla’s press conferences have become a must for C’s fans. You never know what’s going to come out of his mouth, whether it’s an animal kingdom analogy, a reference to “The City,” or a call to action in the NBA. He collected a long list of memorable sounds after taking over as coach of the Celtics during the 2022-23 season.
In fact, there were so many great Mazzulla quotes that we put together a running list of his greatest hits. Check out the best of Mazzulla below:
“Zero. No pressure. We’re all going to die soon, and it really doesn’t matter anymore, so there’s zero pressure… .
“Nothing in this circle can do to me that will affect my identity and who I am as a person or a coach. We either win or we don’t win, and after 40 years none of you are invited. to my funeral and that’s it.”
— Mazzulla on the Celtics feeling pressure to defend their title.
“Jesus, Mary and Joseph? I only know one royal family. I don’t know too much about that one.”
— Mazzulla on Prince William and Kate Middleton attending a Celtics game.
“People will say the target is on our back, but I hope it is right on our forehead between our eyes. I hope I can see the red dot.”
— Mazzulla on the Celtics having a goal on them after their 2024 NBA championship.
“Before I forget, no one has ever asked me what my favorite scene from ‘The City’ is. I know you all know that’s my favorite movie, but has anyone ever wondered what my favorite scene is? …
My favorite is Doug MacRay is getting ready to leave town, and he passes the FBI car and leaves a nice, well thought out handwritten note under the antenna, and then gets out of town. That’s my favorite scene.”
“If we ever decided to rob Fenway, I was like, ‘We could probably really pull this off.’ How could you not go to Fenway and think you couldn’t rob it?”
— Another “The Town” reference from Mazzulla in the Pardon My Take podcast.
“Have you ever seen ‘Spider-Man’? … ‘Into the Spider-Verse’? It’s like, 20 different Spider-Men? That’s like our team.“
— Mazzulla on the versatility of the 2023-24 Celtics.
“I would just go until I die.”
— Mazzulla while running a marathon.
“I saw his face. And then after that, all I saw was his calm.”
— Mazzulla on what he saw after Jaylen Brown took his protective mask off his face.
“It’s beautiful. You should be booed. To me, it’s the ultimate compliment.
“The animal kingdom is the purest form of hierarchy and role definition that exists.”
— Mazzulla on why he uses animal kingdom analogies to send messages to his team.
“We are all villains in someone’s eyes.”
— Mazzulla during the 2024 NBA Finals on Kyrie Irving being a villain in Boston.
“I wouldn’t say I enjoyed the offseason. I enjoyed the parade.”
— Mazzulla during Media Day when asked about his summer.
“The biggest thing we’re robbing people of, from an entertainment standpoint, is that you can’t fight anymore. I wish you could bring back fighting. …
“I just don’t understand why some sports are allowed to clear the benches. They have bats and weapons, we don’t. We just have a ball. The other sport has one of the hardest surfaces and playing instruments in pucks and sticks. And we don’t allowed to throw down a little?”
— Mazzulla on “Zolak & Bertrand” on wanting to “bring fighting back” in the NBA.
“I’m always ready to be beaten. I think that is also important. … If you can’t get through the day hoping you don’t get hit, I don’t know what you’re doing.”
“There are no bad things in war. You either die or you don’t die.”
— Sam Hauser’s favorite Mazzulla odds.
“It ended up being a great experience for me. I had to do six hours of treatment to train for the next game without too much of a limp because I couldn’t walk. But I’m telling you, it was one of the best things that could have happened to me for the rest of the season because it put me in this fight or flight mindset to where I just couldn’t relax… It was amazing I think about maybe hurting every All-Star break.”
— Mazzulla on “Pardon My Take” about tearing his meniscus.
“When he won coach of the month, I said ‘Hey, congratulations.’ And he just looked at me and said, ‘No one cares’.”
“It’s beautiful.”
— Mazzulla on no Celtics players being finalists for awards.
“Save yourself the rest of the question. I don’t really care.”
— Mazzulla on the Pacers trading Pascal Siakam.
“I was waiting to see what he (Jayson Tatum) was going to do. I was kind of excited about the whole situation. I enjoyed watching it.”
— Mazzulla on the dust-up after Caleb Martin’s hard foul on Jayson Tatum during the 2024 NBA playoffs.
“It’s a good system. I mean, you get a player on loan – because it prevents situations where you have to put a guy in a trade that you still have some faith in, but you have to do it. You could loan him. .”
– Mazzulla on “Zolak & Bertrand” stating that the NBA should look into the “loan system” that European clubs have where players can go to other clubs “on loan” for a finite period of time before returning to their original squad.
“I’m sure every sport wants a version of another sport, but I think it’s really cool in soccer and even basketball overseas where you play in three leagues at the same time. Like, Tuesday is a cup, but Saturday could be a home league game. That a change in psychology and balancing everything is really fun.”
– Mazzulla suggests expanding the NBA Cup.
