A second round exit to the Knicks after a devastating injury to Jayson Tatum? We can stomach that.
A subsequent first round exit against another hated rival? It hurts to lose to the 76ers, but a rough shooting streak and losing Tatum for Game 7 adds a little context to another disappointing playoffs.
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Now, heading into Year 5 after a Coach of the Year campaign, the Celtics are arguably better with Tatum replacing Jaylen Brown as the #1 option and veterans Paul George, Mitchell Robinson, and Mike Conley Jr. rounding out the young roster.
However, the East has retooled, too. Brown is now with last year’s ousters — along with LeBron James — and New York is defending the title. Can Boston eclipse the 56 wins they posted last year and more importantly, go deeper in the playoffs? Where we are in April, May, and June might determine just how hot Mazzulla’s seat is.
Here’s reader RJB33 on what Mazzulla needs to do to continue as the Celtics’ head coach:
I’m still not totally over the Eastern Conference Finals collapse from 2023, so I’d really like to see the Mazzulla Celtics overachieve in the playoffs at some point. In ’24, they did what they were supposed to do with a fair amount of matchup luck. (Which isn’t nothing, obviously, when it brings a banner. But there’s an argument any competent coach could have done it.) The other three years, they got upset and embarrassed.
Mazzulla has a strong track record in the regular season. But if you can’t get it done in the playoffs, that can actually hurt you by weakening your draft position to no avail. I think he’s got it in him to have a great coaching career, but he’s got to show the playoff performances were a fluke, ideally this year, or it will be time to try something else.
Our friends at FanDuel are bullish on Boston and still have the Celtics (+1400) with the fifth highest odds to win a championship behind the Thunder (+230), Spurs (+280), Knicks (+1000), and Sixers (+1000).
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