PRESS CONFERENCE: Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla on Christmas Day win vs Lakers

PRESS CONFERENCE: Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla on Christmas Day win vs Lakers

Yeah I mean you know you talk about uh playing on Christmas talk about a four- game Road Trip on the west coast uh presents different challenges I thought we came out three in one uh and even in our loss I thought we were playing the right brand of basketball on both ends

Of the floor uh it’s not always going to be perfect but we came in with the theme of you know Reinventing our offense as far as our off ball activity and the ability to execute uh off Ball versus switching and I thought we did that and I thought we maintained our defensive

Identity so another game with two 25 Point quarters and um you know just it’s just this time of year is about just establishing our identity and sticking to it as much as we can I mean they have an understanding of what we’re trying to accomplish and they’re willing to wear

Many different hats and so um you know they both have been one of the focal points on their team and uh I think them coming in and and working together with the guys that have already been here about uh understanding the dynamic of you know when Talent has to play

Together each guy’s got to reinvent themselves a little bit and uh you’re seeing Drew reinvent his game as far as playing off the ball playing when the matchup is on him and being involved uh different defensive scheme you’re seeing KP uh just kind of reinvent himself as

Far as uh how he’s you know we play a different style offense with him he’s not getting the off ball actions that he was and uh you’re seeing our other guys reinvent themselves and everybody’s got to reinvent uh and you know they were willing to do it and our team is and so

We just got to keep that up don’t that yeah and I think that just you know goes to the execution and the pace and so you know when we um get back to our when we’re in our transition offense that opens up the floor and then

I think we’re doing a really good job of executing uh understanding why we w we run uh how do we get involved what types of shots are we going to get in our sets the guys are are really working hard at that yeah I think that’s necessary I

Think you you you look at who we are as a team and you look at the league in general en and switching slows teams down and uh it’s done that to us in the past uh it slows you down and makes you play a halfcourt game and and uh it’s

Going to come down to a half court game at times but can we still play with the type of speed that we want to can we still create two-on-one advantages and can we see those quickly so we talk about playing fast it’s more about seeing the game at a fast pace

Understanding how we have to play and uh I thought this trip we kind of got better at thatt Le like second quarter LeBron pound glass transition kind of change the game JT differents that’s to the free throw line yeah howt how watching that out there while

LeBron is also try yeah I mean I think that’s what we talk about when he’s got to reinvent and um you know it’s not so much sacrifice as it is reinvent and so you know you’re starting to see what leadership looks like and what value

Looks like for him uh I think there was four straight possessions where he screened and he got like three out of four screen assists in that in that and so it’s just not being defined by just scoring but being defined by playmaking being defined by uh how do you create

Advantages for your teammates and yourself and so it’s going to look different every night and I think as you get better as a player and like I tell him like the other team’s paid to stop you so I don’t know why you think that it’s just going to be that easy for you

And he’s really embraced that mindset of like tonight it might be threes the next night it might be free throws it might be screening to create advantages it might be transition it might be offensive rebounds and so that’s the identity he’s creating and it’s a huge

Asset for our team when you have a guy as talented and good as he is to to have that mindset the NBA markets this day is a huge day for the league take the elite teams you look at it yeah I mean it’s a double triple win

One we got the win uh two we got to we get to work for the Celtics one of the best organizations um in any sport in the world and we get to play the Lakers on this day and I think it’s a huge honor and we got to be grateful for and

I thought the best way to do that is to compete at a high high level and so very grateful uh in honor to you know work and and and represent the Celtics and then to be able to do on Christmas I’ve I have a short career I think I’ve only

Been in the league five years and I’ve gotten to play on Christmas every year um and so you can’t take that for granted presented by your New England Ford dealers built for America built Ford proud

Celtics head coach Joe Mazulla talks about the 3-1 West Coast trip for Boston, how Jrue Holiday and Kristpas Porzingis continue to get more comfortable, how the Jays have changed their game, and how lucky he feels’ to get a win in a Celtics/Lakers showdown.

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