Joe Mazzulla Had Comical Exchange With Celtics Reporters Over Jaylen Brown Injury Update

A humorous back-and-forth between the head coach and beat writers.
Joe Mazzulla
Joe Mazzulla / Celtics on NBC Sports Bosto
In this story:

The Boston Celtics lost their second game of the season on Wednesday night, falling to the Golden State Warriors 118-112 at TD Garden. Notably absent from the parquet was reigning Finals MVP Jaylen Brown, who missed his third straight contest while battling a hip injury.

The franchise hasn't given much information on Brown's injury beyond that it's a hip strain and reporters attended head coach Joe Mazzulla's pregame press conference in hopes they'd get an update on the star's status. Those hopes were dashed by way of a genuinely funny exchange between the off-beat coach and those asking the questions.

Here's the interaction transcribed for your reading enjoyment:

Reporter A: "Have you been able to talk to him about the injury?"

Mazzulla: "I talk to him every day."

Reporter A: "What were those conversations like?"

Mazzulla: "We both kind of mumble when we talk and we just shake hands and move on."

Reporter A: "Did he happen to mumble about his hip at all?"

Mazzulla: "Couldn't understand him."

Then another reporter was given the opportunity to follow up.

Reporter B: "Do you have any sense if that's going to linger for a while?"

Mazzulla: "The mumbling or the injury?"

Reporter B: "Both."

Mazzulla: "Oh. I don't. He works hard every day just trying to come back. I think it's a day-to-day thing. We'll see how he is when he wakes up tomorrow and go from there but he's in there every day working at it."

Hilarious stuff made even more so by the fact that Mazzulla managed to dodge giving an answer of any substance. Which is usually how teams prefer to handle public questions about a player's health. But Mazzulla, as is his wont, found a far more entertaining way to take care of business.

Brown will have a chance to retake the floor on Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET agains the Brooklyn Nets.


More of the Latest Around the NBA

feed


Published |Modified
Liam McKeone
LIAM MCKEONE

Liam McKeone is a senior writer for the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has been in the industry as a content creator since 2017, and prior to joining SI in May 2024, McKeone worked for NBC Sports Boston and The Big Lead. In addition to his work as a writer, he has hosted the Press Pass Podcast covering sports media and The Big Stream covering pop culture. A graduate of Fordham University, he is always up for a good debate and enjoys loudly arguing about sports, rap music, books and video games. McKeone has been a member of the National Sports Media Association since 2020.