"Let them know that I'm coaching you" - Joe Mazzulla issues stern response to Raptors bench's annoyance over late challenge

Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla coaches his team the way he sees fit, and he made this known against the Toronto Raptors in their blowout NBA In-Season Tournament victory on Saturday at home.

In response to the Raptors’ bench raising a howl after Mazzulla decided to use a coach’s challenge despite his team being comfortably ahead with just three minutes left to play, the second-year Celtics coach said it was in his prerogative to do so, especially if it would benefit his players.

He said in the postgame press conference (via NBA.com):

"I think my responsibility is to my players first & it was a clear opportunity for me to empower the players, let them know that I'm coaching you and those minutes to me are just as important as the start of the game."

The play in question involved a loose ball with 3:39 to go and the Celtics were up by 27 points. The call was in favor of the Raptors but Joe Mazzulla decided to use his challenge instead.

Toronto saw it as a form of disrespect since regardless of the outcome of the review, Boston was already on its way to victory. A few Raptors players and their coach, Darko Rajakovic, annoyingly reacted to it.

The Celtics moved on to win the game, 117-94, to improve to 2-0 in In-Season play and 7-2 overall this season. Jaylen Brown finished with 29 points with Jayson Tatum adding 27 and Kristaps Porzingis 21.

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Celtics believe Joe Mazzulla is the best man for the job

Joe Mazzulla started last season as an interim coach of the Boston Celtics before progressing to eventually own the job, and the management is fully backing him.

The 35-year-old tactician stepped in for Ime Udoka, who was suspended by the team for the whole of last season, and made a good account of himself, taking the Cs to one win away from returning to the NBA Finals.

His services were retained for this season in a move endorsed by team president Brad Stevens, who recently highlighted how deserving Mazzulla is of it.

Stevens said (via Sports Illustrated):

“Yeah, I think he is [best man for the job]. And I thought he, again, did a really good job with this group. Everybody’s gonna overreact to the best players and coaches after every game, that’s always the way it is. We know that going in, so we have to be able to judge things on the whole, and he’s a terrific leader.”

Joe Mazzulla joined the Celtics as an assistant in 2019 after serving as coach at Fairmont State. He played collegiate ball at West Virginia but was not selected in the NBA Draft in 2011.