Fifteen-year NBA vet Jrue Holiday is still being kept on his toes each day when he shows up for work. That’s because he has a head coach whose unorthodox methods test him and his teammates every time they step foot into the gym.
Holiday explained Sunday, between Rounds 2 and 3 of the postseason, how he’s never had a coach quite like Mazzulla. His drills this season have ranged from playing full-court with no dribbling allowed, to playing to the rhythm of Mozart with no talking allowed, and everything in between.
When asked to put Mazzulla’s style into words, Holiday described it as “controlled madness.” Buying into such madness has resulted in a great deal of happiness for this Celtics group and their fans.
“It’s fun. It’s different,” Holiday said of the experience. “I feel like some coaches sometimes it can be methodical or it can be boring. But Joe definitely brings a spark – some weird energy. I think it keeps us engaged.”
Mazzulla’s style has been put to the test in these playoffs because he’s had to find ways to keep the team engaged throughout the long layoffs before each round. Boston had six days off before the first round against Miami, five days off before the second series against Cleveland, and five more before its Eastern Conference Finals matchup with Indiana, which will begin Tuesday.
Although some of his drills may come off as “crazy,” there is purpose behind each one that carries into the on-court product.
“You just go with it; you go with the craziness,” said Holiday. “He honestly makes you lock in because [each day] is so different. You definitely have to pay attention to the things that he says. Sometimes he might talk kind of fast and he might talk through something and you’ll kind of be like, ‘Wait, wait, wait, slow down.’ But I think really locking in like that helps me because it really makes me go back and be like, ‘Alright, what did he say? This is what we want to do.’
“It’s kind of like a school session, or something like that, to be able to really study what we want to do and really just be the best at it.”
Payton Pritchard agrees that it’s like being in class with Mazzulla, and these Celtics have learned a great deal from their teacher.
“I’ve definitely learned a lot from him,” Pritchard said. “Joe really studies the game, studies the mental side of things a lot, so I think that our biggest growth this year is how do we prepare mentally for the battle ahead, and staying in the moment and not losing ourselves. So that’s what I’ve learned most from him, and I think we’ve done a really good job with that.”
To keep his players in the moment, Mazzulla will give them mental challenges to overcome throughout a game.
“Like if a team goes on a run,” Pritchard said, for example, “can we regroup and make it a 6-0 run or are we going to turn into like a 15-0 run? Or like in the game last night – the Thunder-Dallas game. Dallas ends up winning, but end of the half, OKC went on a big run right? For us it’s like mentally being able to regroup and like not letting them go on a 10-0 run to end the half, to end the quarter, because those are big momentum runs. So it’s just those little things like that.”
Combining mental fortitude with an elite combination of skill creates a nearly unstoppable team, which the Celtics have been for most of the season.
“We’re so talented,” said Pritchard, “and I think our biggest step has been, how do we mentally bridge that gap with our talent? If we become mentally as strong as we are talented, then we’re really dangerous. So that’s what we’ve really been harping on and what we’ve been growing on.”
To have success, a team needs to take risks. And to take risks, means you’ve got to be a little crazy sometimes.
Mazzulla has taken on that job for the Celtics. “And it’s been working,” Holiday said.
