Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla has sat in on defensive meetings for the New England Patriots, and he is taking a page out of their strategy playbook, as he looks to defend his NBA title with the Boston Celtics.
The Celtics won a combined 80 games last season, which was the second-best mark in franchise history. They went 64-18 during the regular season before defeating the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA finals by a 4-1 margin.
They went on one of the most dominant playoff runs in NBA history with only three losses in the postseason.
Nevertheless, Mazzulla is still trying to learn and improve as he embarks on his third season as Celtics head coach. He has been observing Patriots coach Jerod Mayo, and he is applying what the coach is doing to the basketball court.
“Yeah, I think you learn a lot in those meetings,” Mazzulla told media members. “From three-step communication, on how they disguise their defense, what their different situational defenses are. All those things are super important. It’s been great being able to see how you can kind of factor that into disguising your defensive possession.”
Jerod Mayo said this morning that Joe Mazzulla would sit in on the Patriots’ defensive meetings during his visits to Foxboro.
Here’s what Mazzulla learned from that experience: pic.twitter.com/3cLQFFO4wv
— Zack Cox (@zm_cox) September 27, 2024
It’s certainly a unique approach to strategizing for a basketball coach. But then again, Mazzulla’s way of thinking outside of the box helped get the Celtics over the hump and back to championship glory.
If anything, this just shows how intertwined the sports world truly is.
