Joe Mazzulla Shares His Reasoning for Early Benching of Celtics' Stars in Loss to Wizards

Jayson Tatum didn't play in the final frame, and less than three minutes into the fourth quarter, Joe Mazzulla pulled the starters who did.

Rob Gray-USA TODAY Sports

The Boston Celtics suffered a disappointing 130-111 loss to the Washington Wizards. The defeat keeps Boston 2.5 games away from the number-one seed in the Eastern Conference.

Joe Mazzulla addressed what went wrong in the Celtics’ performance.

"Just one of those nights."

Joe Mazzulla talks the C's inability to come back and win after being down in the first half #BOSvsWSH pic.twitter.com/T0cBopfMVj

— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) March 29, 2023

“Transition defense waned,” said Mazzulla. “I think we gave around 20 points in transition in the first half… You let a team score early and often like that, especially in the first half, you give them a chance to get going and puts you in a tough spot and we weren’t able to recover.”

With nine minutes left in the fourth quarter, Mazzulla made the unusual decision of benching Boston’s starting line-up for the remainder of the game. They were replaced by the unit of Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser, Grant Williams, Mike Muscala, and Luke Kornet.

Post-game, Jayson Tatum, who did not participate in the final frame, discussed staying glued to the bench in the fourth quarter.

"You gotta take it on the chin."

Jayson Tatum talks Joe Mazzulla pulling the starters early in the 4th quarter pic.twitter.com/P7mASjMr96

— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) March 29, 2023

When asked about the removal of key players, such as Jaylen Brown, and Tatum, Marcus Smart, Al Horford, and Derrick White not playing in the final 12 minutes, Mazzulla stated that he was “just looking for a different look at that time”. Though the second unit was able to cut the lead to 12 points, the momentum wasn’t sustained.

Mazzulla wasn't concerned with Boston’s three-game winning streak being snapped.

"We’ve been playing really good basketball for a stretch of time.” said Mazzulla. “Tonight was just an off night. Very rarely has that happened to us, so we just have to move on and control the things that we can."

The Celtics will face off against the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday night. Milwaukee holds the best record in the league, though Boston can still overtake the position before the regular season ends. 

Further Reading

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Former Warriors' Director of Performance Keke Lyles Shares His Perspective on Load Management, Changing Stephen Curry's Movement Patterns, And What's Helped Jayson Tatum's Durability

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