A win tonight vs OKC would help cement Joe’s reputation . Difficult game , possibly OT that might be decided who by coaches the better game and makes the less mistakes.
Honestly the outcome of a regular season game won't reflect much on Joe's legacy. It could help boost confidence, perhaps, but ultimately it's going to be meaningless from an evaluation standpoint. The track record is established: he can lead a team to wildly successful regular seasons, while his playoff performance has some question marks.
Joe Mazzulla has lost one playoff series in his coaching career. He lost that series in a Game 7 where his best player was injured in the first quarter. How much should be read into that? His team also came back from being down 0-3 to tie the series and probably would have made history had Tatum not got injured.
Mazzulla has coached nearly two full seasons but that one bad week in the playoffs, where Miami's bench players shot 50% from 3, outweighs everything else?
I know this debate is getting tired. There is no definitive way to judge a coach. Everyone can draw their own conclusions. There is no way to separate the coach from the players. Popovich was a way better coach when he had Tim Duncan. He has been a lottery team coach for several seasons now. But he is a legend, understandably.
Go down 0-3 and it is the coach's fault. Come back to tie the series, and it is in spite of the coach. Lose game 7 when the best player gets hurt, more questions about the coach. Win coach of the month, it is just the regular season. As I said, everyone is going to draw their own conclusions on a coach, it comes with the territory, but there just seems to be no balance in the strong opinions.
The team repeatedly came out flat in the playoffs, blew big leads, lost games that it shouldn't have, made no adjustments, etc. Just because we beat Atlanta and Philly doesn't mean that those were well coached series.
I do think it's interesting though the different lenses coaches get viewed through.
From a high level, Ime and Joe's playoff runs seem pretty comparable, save for one round.
Round 1:
In '22 The C's swept the #7 Nets. Though the Nets were a rare #7 seed that people could see making the Finals.
In '23 The C's go to 6 against the #7 Hawks that nobody is scared of.
Udoka clearly wins this one (though does get bailed out not calling a timeout at the end of Game 1, a common complaint against Joe).
Round 2:
In '22 C's go 7 against a legit contender in the Bucks, never leading the series until Game 7 (down 0-1, 1-2, 2-3).
In '23 C's go 7 against a legit contender in the Sixers, C's go down 0-1 and 2-3).
Both C's teams gave away home court and were playing from behind against legit contenders.
Round 3:
In '22 C's beat Heat in 7 without homecourt. Failed to close at home in Game 6. Almost blew a 13 point lead in the last 3 1/2 minutes of Game 7. A questionable Jimmy Butler pull up 3 with ~15 seconds left very possibly saved the game for the Celtics.
In '23 C's lose to the Heat in 7 despite having home court. But maybe a Tatum ankle sprain away from beating them? Or a healthy Brogdon?
Both C's teams went to Game 7, and had lucky breaks that won them games ('22 Game 7, '23 Game 6). Udoka's team does better, but it's not that different.
Finals:
In '22 C's blow a 2-1 lead, losing 3 straight by double digits.
In '23 C's gone fishing.
Sure there's nuances that can be argued either way (Udoka beat a #1 Heat, Joe lost to a #8 Heat is one way is one way, Heat were the same team just coasting through the regular season is another. Or Joe's team was better with Brogdon, or Joe's team got unlucky with a Brogdon injury. Or one team had the healthier Robert Williams, etc.). But Joe got a lot more criticism for really very similar results.
If Joe had Udoka's run, I think people would complain about things they didn't overly complain about with Udoka.
Topic: Fire Joe! ... or critique Joe ... or defend Joe... or worry about Joe's coaching (Read 220395 times)