After his Boston Celtics lost 98-96 to the Indiana Pacers on Monday night, head coach Joe Mazzulla delivered a tour-de-force performance as the character "Joe Mazzulla." While speaking to press, he answered all six questions with the same two words, then left.
There's a lot to love about Mazzulla's line delivery. You think, just for a second, that he might provide an actual answer to the next query—nope. "Illegal screen."
Mazzulla was probably referring to what happened on the Pacers' final possession of the game. Indiana forward Pascal Siakam walked up to set a screen on Celtics guard Derrick White, but Siakam extended a leg and leaned outside the frame of his body, clipping White and forcing the Celtics defenders to switch. Siakam then attacked White and banked in a floater to go up by two with six seconds on the clock. White's long three-point attempt on Boston's final possession was no good, and the Pacers came away with the win.
The Celtics, sitting third in the Eastern Conference, haven't been pleased with how they've been officiated over the last few days. After Saturday's five-point loss to the San Antonio Spurs, Celtics star Jaylen Brown tore into the refs at length and was fined $35,000. His coach chose a path that was truer to his own oddly intense nature. No NBA coach is better at staying in character, or in possession of a stranger character, than Joe Mazzulla.
