Joe Mazzulla’s playoff message quietly revealed what really drives the Celtics

This year’s NBA Playoffs have been some of the most-watched ever. Opening weekend drew all-time viewership, and ESPN has had more eyes on this year’s NBA Playoffs than any other season in league history thus far. With that comes physicality, chess matches, and some of the most competitive settings in the sporting world. But Joe Mazzulla and the Boston Celtics don’t look at external factors.

Their first-round series against the Orlando Magic. Despite Boston jumping out to a 3-1 lead, Orlando has stayed with them stride-for-stride. In Game 3, their physicality almost baited the Celtics into playing a style of basketball they aren’t used to. Game 4 brought the necessary adjustments.

Game planning for playoff basketball takes on many forms. Knowing personnel sits toward the top of the list, but the Celtics are almost always more worried about themselves than their opponent.

Joe Mazzulla and the Celtics focus on themselves in the playoffs

When Orlando’s physicality stood atop headlines after Game 3, Mazzulla stayed focused on everything the Celtics did wrong, rather than what the Magic did right. "Out of the 95 points, 46 came off turnovers, offensive rebounds, and free throws,” Mazzulla told reporters the morning after the Game 3 loss. “So, you just can't be blinded by the details…You have to fight like hell to win those [the margins]."

Even after Boston’s Game 4 win, no matter the topic of the question, Mazzulla’s mind drifted back to the same set of core ideals: “We defended without fouling, and we held them to one shot,” he said. “I think those two things are the most important.”

Series take on their own identities as they go on. Yet no matter what the Magic throw at Boston, Mazzulla and the Celtics remain focused on their own controllables.

“Yeah, I mean, I think it goes back to the things that you can control,” Mazzulla said before Game 5. “You can control the rebounding. You control taking care of the basketball. You can control defending without falling. You can control your execution. 

“You obviously expect [there] to be, and there have been in every game, matchup changes, some coverage changes, and those are the things that you have to be quick to see and be quick to be able to execute on both ends of the floor, but you just focus on the margins and things that can truly impact winning as you can control [them].”

That’s how the Celtics got to where they are now: Keeping their focus internal.