Why did Joe Mazzulla try to block Royce O'Neale's shot? Understanding viral moment from Suns-Celtics

In a viral moment from the Phoenix Suns' matchup against the Boston Celtics on Thursday, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla tried to get more involved in the game than coaches usually do. Mazzulla was seen trying to block Royce O'Neale's three-point shot attempt after the Suns had called a time-out late in the fourth quarter.

During the post-game interview, Joe Mazzulla cited 'mindset' to be the reason that drove him to attempt the block, and revealed that he would ask the team to do the same. He elaborated that he did not want the opponent to feel good about himself having hit a free shot, which could have helped O'Neale develop a rhythm.

“I saw a guy going in to try and get a shot, and he hadn’t made one, and I didn’t want him to feel good about himself going to the bench,” said Mazzulla.

“That’s the bench rule. Guys don’t shoot shots in front our bench to go back to their bench to feel good about themselves. If I’m gonna ask the guys to contest, the staff’s gotta do the same. At the end of the day, it's about the mindset and the approach that we bring, and it's within the rules of the game.

"It's about setting a tone, and it's just that. One of the biggest pet peeves is thinking that a guy's gonna get a free shot and that's not the way it works. If we're gonna hold our team to a standard, we hold our staff to the same thing. There's been times where we've missed it and I've held the staff accountable to it, and we've gotta do the best job we can of not doing it."

The Celtics were up 124-106 fresh off a Jaylen Brown steal and slam when the Phoenix Suns called a timeout and Joe Mazzulla attempted the block on Royce O'Neale.

Boston extended to a four-game winning streak with their dominating 127-112 win on Thursday. Jaylen Brown led the Celtics to victory registering 37 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Joe Mazzulla and the Boston Celtics cruise through the regular season

With still a month to go in the regular season, the Boston Celtics are the first to clinch their spot in the 2023-24 playoffs with their league-leading 52-14 record. Boston has made the playoffs for the second straight season under head coach Joe Mazzulla, and the 10th straight season for the franchise overall.

They are still 9.5 games ahead of Milwaukee Bucks (43-24) who are second in the Eastern Conference. The Celtics have 16 games left in the season, and will likely start working in some off nights for their key players for the rest of the way.