Joe Mazzulla showed up at a press conference with a broken record. Quite upset by the defeat of his Celtics against the Pacers (98-96) on the night of Monday to Tuesday in the NBA, the Boston coach did not linger in front of the journalists. He also saved saliva since he only spoke twelve words during the minute he spent in front of the media.
The American repeated “Illegal screen” six times, without attempting to further analyze the situation he was complaining about, nor to correctly answer his interlocutors’ questions.
Dispute over the victory basket
The cause of his irritation was quite clear. 15 seconds from the buzzer, Pascal Siakam set a screen – in basketball, a way of blocking his body next to an opponent to open the way for a partner – which Mazzulla deemed illicit. Siakam then inherited the ball to score the winning basket for Indiana. That of defeat for the Celtics and that of too much for their coach.
The 37-year-old technician, who is also in favor of fights in the NBA, could have focused on other elements to explain the defeat of his team, such as the absence of his star Jaylen Brown or the lack of three-point skill of his players. He preferred to place everything on the back of the refereeing body.
His lunar press conference is reminiscent of former NFL player Marshawn Lynch’s appearances in front of the media. “I’m here so I don’t get fined,” he said over and over again before the Super Bowl. In five minutes, he had repeated these words 29 times. Mazzulla didn’t push it that far.
