When Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla challenged an out-of-bounds call on a play late in the Celtics’ 117-94 drubbing of the Toronto Raptors at TD Garden on Saturday night, it rubbed some of the Raptors the wrong way.
Given the contest was part of the group play segment of the NBA’s new in-season tournament where point differentials impact a club’s ability to advance, it might have added some extra impetus for the Raps’ players being extra salty about Boston’s evident desire to leverage every opportunity available to them in the contest. But former Celtics point guard Dennis Schroder in particular had some sharp words for the situation postgame.
“Up 30 you’re not supposed to challenge nothing. You won, it’s three minutes left. You shouldn’t disrespect us like that,” said the German floor general to the Boston Globe’s Gary Washburn.
Orlando's Paolo Banchero on how his Jordan Tatum 1 PE 'Huevos Bancheros' came to be https://t.co/E2WDjMjWfo pic.twitter.com/ItF73OWiHr
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) November 12, 2023
Mazzulla, for his part, defended the move. “I don’t know if it was disrespectful or cheap to challenge in that situation,” said the Celtics head coach via CLNS Media. “I don’t really agree or disagree.”
“I think at the end of the day, my responsibility is to my players first, and to have respect for the game. We’ve been in that situation before where we don’t shoot the last shot, we let the clock go out, we do that all the time, but with three and a half minutes to go, you have a group of guys that check in and they are playing as hard as they can.”
“I think it’s my responsibility to my players first,” he emphasized.
PHOTOS – Boston vs. Brooklyn: Celtics snip Nets 121-107 https://t.co/fO7fGiKGWH pic.twitter.com/ySIWIDElpR
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) November 12, 2023
Such a move will certainly help players coming off the bench feel like their head coach has their back when they do bring their best effort to bear, whether up 20 or down 10. And for building championship habits, that sort of mentality is critical to cultivate.
Add in that point differential could be key to winning a competition that may not matter to fans but could matter a lot players adding roughly a quarter of their current salary to their check with an IST win, and it seems like they may simply need to export some salt north of the border.
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— Cameron Tabatabaie (@CTabatabaie) November 8, 2023
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