Mazzulla throws his reserves into the deep end, manufacturing another teaching moment for his team

One way or another, Joe Mazzulla tends to find a teachable moment for his team in most games. Even if he has to manufacture them. 

The Celtics came into the fourth quarter up 12 on the Sacramento Kings. Mazzulla started the quarter with Jayson Tatum, Luke Kornet, Xavier Tillman, Payton Pritchard, and Svi Mykhailiuk, a group that had played a whopping zero minutes together this season. Still, they managed to add to their lead over the first six minutes. Even after Jordan Walsh subbed in for Tatum, Boston still managed to grow their lead to 19 with 6:06 to play. 

Sacramento was playing for something, and Boston was just getting a glorified practice in. 

And then it seemed like the Kings made a realization; like all they had seen all night was green uniforms running them ragged and they didn't notice it was suddenly five different guys than the ones who piled up 60 wins so far this season. 

It wasn’t going to be the regular Celtics closing this game out. It was going to be their stunt doubles. 

“I feel like it’s important. Those guys are no different than anybody else,” Mazzulla said. “They’ve won games for us in the past, they’ve started games for us. Everybody gets treated to the same level, the highest level, and you have to be able to win games with different guys. And I felt like it was important in that particular moment that they earned the right to do whatever it took to win the game, because of the work they put in. So I had no problem doing that.”

So the guys normally sitting got to play and the guys who normally play got to sit, though there wasn’t a whole lot of sitting down the stretch. The regulars were standing on the sidelines, cheering and yelling and working the refs, trying to support their teammates. 

“It was sweet. It was sweet,” Tillman said. “Especially because we’re not necessarily playing for anything anymore since we’re already solidified. So for them to be so excited about that, that was pretty cool.”

Tillman can say it was sweet because he hit the shot that saved the Celtics and gave them a win, as meaningless as it may be in the standings. For Mazzulla and the Celtics, though, the real win wasn’t necessarily on the scoreboard. It’s that they got this chance to put this group through the ringer. 

“Couldn’t simulate a better environment of stress, pressure, chaos. It’s a perfect environment to execute,” Mazzulla said. “That’s why when those guys are in, you hold them to the same standard you hold everybody else to. I thought they did a great job just making plays. … They were in a fix-it situation the entire (game-winning) possession. It allowed us to get a good look, it allowed us to get offensive rebounds because they couldn’t find us. We were off their bodies. I thought it was a perfect environment for practice.”

That's really what this was. A big practice where they booked the Sacramento Kings, three refs, 19,000 fans, and some in-arena staff. It was basically a chance to get some good cardio, kick their zone defense around a little, and then throw random players to the wolves to see what happened. 

You never know when Tillman is going to get fourth-quarter minutes in a playoff game. Throwing him into the fire against a Kings team that really wanted to win that game gave him minutes he’d never get anywhere else. 

“It definitely built the chemistry. Either way it went today, win or lose, it would have built a chemistry,” Tillman said. “Just getting the opportunity to be out there in crunch time minutes with one another and getting to learn different guys’ tendencies … that moment (helped) that group just build more and more confidence. Like next time we’re in this situation, we know how to handle it.”

You see those “break glass in case of emergency” boxes everywhere, but someone has to put that box together. The extinguisher or whatever other materials are in there didn’t just magically appear in the box. Someone had to prepare them, fit them in, and then put the box up somewhere. What Mazzulla did was start to build that box. 

Maybe they’ll never need it. In fact, I think most people hope they don’t. None of us wants to imagine a scenario where Tillman has to get the last shot to win a playoff game. We don’t want to know how he ended up being on the floor instead of … you know what? Nevermind. I'm not finishing that sentence. 

All we know is that he’s a little bit more prepared for that moment right now. Between the experience, the game film, and whatever subsequent coaching comes out of it, the Celtics feel a little bit better about breaking that glass in case they need him. 

And to get all that in a win in front of a home crowd is a nice bonus. 

“It was pretty cool. I think it helped,” Kristaps Porzingis said, “It’s good for our team chemistry, those kind of moments. And seeing Joe all hyped up on the sideline, it was pretty cool and, a good win for us.”