Fire Joe! ... or critique Joe ... or defend Joe... or worry about Joe's coaching

[Who]

Seriously, Sam Cassell or another assistant should be handling the ATOs instead of Joe. We have had enough examples to conclude thar his ATOs lack creativity and simply don't work.

I?d be ok with elevating Sam as head coach if we don?t make the finals. A lot of teams are gonna go after him this off season. As for Joe, i really don?t know. That hack a robinson ploy really ticked me off. I mean he was a plus 19 but we were still up. That was defensive , ?playing not to lose? basketball.

I'd love to see Sam Cassell as head coach.

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

He waited until 3 seconds left to call a timeout in Game 1, then today doesn't call one. Just incompetence. And also, the ATOs and play designs are putrid. Mazzulla is getting mega-exposed. He needs to be on the hot seat.

getting?

hot seat?

bro he needed to be fired in 2023.

what more do u need to see???

anyone with a brain calls a TO with under 20 seconds left and you MUST have  winning shot.

[angryguy77]

He waited until 3 seconds left to call a timeout in Game 1, then today doesn't call one. Just incompetence. And also, the ATOs and play designs are putrid. Mazzulla is getting mega-exposed. He needs to be on the hot seat.

getting?

hot seat?

bro he needed to be fired in 2023.

what more do u need to see???

anyone with a brain calls a TO with under 20 seconds left and you MUST have  winning shot.

I suspect he doesn't call to's there because he doesn't know what to draw up.

[SparzWizard]

He waited until 3 seconds left to call a timeout in Game 1, then today doesn't call one. Just incompetence. And also, the ATOs and play designs are putrid. Mazzulla is getting mega-exposed. He needs to be on the hot seat.

He's saving his last timeout for tomorrow at 4:00AM.

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

He waited until 3 seconds left to call a timeout in Game 1, then today doesn't call one. Just incompetence. And also, the ATOs and play designs are putrid. Mazzulla is getting mega-exposed. He needs to be on the hot seat.

getting?

hot seat?

bro he needed to be fired in 2023.

what more do u need to see???

anyone with a brain calls a TO with under 20 seconds left and you MUST have  winning shot.

I suspect he doesn't call to's there because he doesn't know what to draw up.

he should text brad

brad does know ATos

[ozgod]

He waited until 3 seconds left to call a timeout in Game 1, then today doesn't call one. Just incompetence. And also, the ATOs and play designs are putrid. Mazzulla is getting mega-exposed. He needs to be on the hot seat.

getting?

hot seat?

bro he needed to be fired in 2023.

what more do u need to see???

anyone with a brain calls a TO with under 20 seconds left and you MUST have  winning shot.

I suspect he doesn't call to's there because he doesn't know what to draw up.

he should text brad

brad does know ATos

His second last ATO was good. Then he tried to do it again. Unfortunately NY were waiting for it and they made Tatum muck it up. He would say it was a good ATO but a "failure of execution"

[jpotter33]

https://x.com/sny_knicks/status/1920297341396889690?s=46&t=lGU0TGXtwjkuVuoin6WTNw

  "He was a +19, all their starters were in the negative"

Joe Mazzulla was asked about fouling Mitchell Robinson and getting him off the floor late in the game:

🤯 Again - it?s never his fault or poor decision-making or scheming. Get Second Row Joe out of here.

[slightly biased bias fan]

I think this season shows how valuable Jeff Van Gundy was for the Celtics championship run.

[SparzWizard]

https://x.com/sny_knicks/status/1920297341396889690?s=46&t=lGU0TGXtwjkuVuoin6WTNw

  "He was a +19, all their starters were in the negative"

Joe Mazzulla was asked about fouling Mitchell Robinson and getting him off the floor late in the game:

🤯 Again - it?s never his fault or poor decision-making or scheming. Get Second Row Joe out of here.

Idgaf if you're a +19, +10, or even a +1 or a -5. Analytics ruin games and series like these last two games. They never account for in-game situations and momentum shifts. Thibs outcoached him in circles.

[SparzWizard]

Btw the refs were letting them play in Game 2. For the most part it was fine, but we did have refs who've never lost a game officiating the Celtics until tonight.

Now Saturday we may be stuck with Tony Brothers or Zach Zarba.

[Phantom255x]

Btw the refs were letting them play in Game 2. For the most part it was fine, but we did have refs who've never lost a game officiating the Celtics until tonight.

Now Saturday we may be stuck with Tony Brothers or Zach Zarba.

Can Scott Foster extend this series for us por favor

[DocomoCelts]

Only silver lining from the Cs getting bounced is if Joe gets canned, as he should. Tired of his weird passive aggressive crap.

[Kernewek]

I have not gone through the tape but I am all for taking "good" 3s.  Of the 60 taken last night, no doubt some number of them were not "good" 3s.  Those possessions that ended in a bad 3 would have been better served if someone had taken it to the hoop or generated some other shot.  Is that number 10?  15?  But that is in the range of 10% to 15% of the total possessions.

I am with Mazzulla on this, in terms of the question.  When asked the question about number of 3PA, there is no answer.  Every miss looks bad, every make looks good.  You can't say that tonight we took 60 which is wrong but if we took 50, it would have been right.  I don't think there were 60 "good" 3PAs tonight, but there could be.  But even if you took 50 or 40, if you only made 25%, it would still look bad.

I feel that coaches and players need to execute to find the best shot.  They need to do it better than they did in game 1.

Here's my objection to "good" threes:  It's taught "if it's a good three, take it".  But, that ignores the reality of runs and momentum.

Let's take an example.  Your team has been shooting poorly, but you hold a 9 point lead in the fourth quarter.  You've just seen the opponent shave off 11 points from their deficit.

The "take good threes" strategy says keep shooting.  If you get five open looks from 3PT on five straight possessions, shoot them.  If they're misses, oh well, things will even out eventually.

The "you don't need to take every open shot" strategy says that momentum is a thing.  With every consecutive miss, your team loses confidence and the other team gains it.  It's better to work for a high percentage 2PT shot than an open but low percentage 3PT shot to "stop the bleeding".

We started the 4th quarter by not scoring for nearly four minutes.  That sequence was:

Missed close 2PT
Missed 3PT
Missed 3PT
Missed long 2T
Turnover
Missed 3PT
Missed 3PT
Turnover

That's just an example of how games are lost.  What would it have looked like if, instead of settling for threes, they'd attempted some drives?

I think it's worth pointing out that, while I agree with you, 'the reality of runs and momentum' is not a settled point, and perhaps it's unwise to act like it is.

To me, the question isn't about whether momentum is real or not, it is about how a "good" shot is defined.  If you have a lead, and the other team is surging, it is not a good shot to jack up a 3 early in the shot clock, from the logo, with a hand in your face.  But it could be a good shot if you are open off a pick and pop, in rhythm.  What better way to reverse momentum than to hit a couple of 3s.

You can also argue both sides of the alternate.  Sometimes it is a really good play to take it to the hoop when the other team is surging.  Other times, it is dribbling into traffic, that leads to a turnover, that leads to an easy bucket the other way, that leads to even more momentum.

In that run that Roy illustrated, 4 missed 3s, 2 missed 2s, and 2 turnovers.  I don't recall exactly but my guess is some of the 3s were good shots, some not.  Probably the turnovers were the result of trying to take it to the hoop or otherwise forcing something.  They didn't execute any of it well, not 3s, not 2s, not taking it to the hoop.  But had they hit a even 1 of those 3s, much less 2 of them, it changes everything.  Had they not turned the ball over twice and turned those possessions into points, much different.

Mazzulla shares some of the blame for this, I just don't think this makes him a bad coach.  This kind of thing happens with every coach and every team.  Sometimes it just all unravels.  In the moment, the players have more control over these than the coaches.  The players have to respond and execute.

Realise this was commented before the most recent game, but I agree with you.

How can people still defend this guy this is ridiculous

The glazing of Joe when he's clearly failing this team is nauseating.

I think this comment being made in this particular thread is a bit strange - this thread is the opposite of glazing, surely.

[Larry for 3]

2 out of the last 3 years they will have been eliminated by the inferior team. You have to be a horrible coach for that to happen in the NBA. They have wasted too much time with Joe. This needs to be his last year.

Such a fireable offense. Should be going for a 3 peat, instead we lose again to a worse team. Any other sport that gets you fired. He?s done. Has to go. This era of Celtics basketball is teetering on the great what if. In fact it?s already there. Changes need and will happen, I hope.

[celticinorlando]

Joe is getting crushed this series in the coaching department. It looks just like 2023 vs Miami.

His team is not prepared to play.

The Celtics are getting crushed when Brunson goes to the bench. Both games the Knicks have gone on big runs with Brunson sitting. That is just inexcusable to not have a plan in place to contend with this.

It is not even Brunson beating the Cs. It is leaving Josh Hart wide open for corner 3s. It is getting outworked all of the court.

Joe gives these guys way too much freedom on the court and in the end the result is Boston playing offense like it is a summer pick up game.