Bruins, Celtics coaches match

Montgomery, Mazzulla share more than leading teams with great records

BOSTON — As the NBA and NHL seasons got under way at TD Garden, Jim Montgomery and Joe Mazzulla had little more in common than a home address.

Boston’s newest head coaches had moved into the building amid similarly surprising situations, hired after the dismissals of their predecessors, Bruce Cassidy and Ime Udoka. Yet as much as they were bonded by circumstance — taking over well-built, win-now teams looking to get over a championship hump — their personalities didn’t seem to reveal much else that made them alike.

Then they started coaching.

And as they have led their teams to dominant starts, in being named to coach in their leagues’ recent All-Star Games while each bringing along two of their players, Montgomery and Mazzulla have displayed many of the same coaching qualities, profiles of leadership and tactical know-how that have both as vegasinsider. com’s favorites to win Coach of the Year honors.

A flashback to a tumultuous offseason reminds us this was never guaranteed.

Here was Montgomery, moving into his office via Second Chance Way, the Bruins being the first team willing to step up to hire him as a head coach after he was fired by the Dallas Stars in 2019 as he dealt with treatment for alcoholism.

And here was Mazzulla, whose move to the Celtics was more of a drive down First Chance Boulevard, his elevation from little-known, back-bench assistant taking Boston and the NBA by surprise. The 34-year-old, who reached an NCAA Final Four as a guard for West Virginia, did not play professionally and began his coaching career at Division II Glenville State and then Fairmont State, before becoming a Celtics assistant in 2019.

Here they are, heading into their respective Saturday night games with the NHL’s and NBA’s best records, the Bruins winning their fifth straight Thursday in Seattle to improve to 44-8-5 and the Celtics taking Indiana in overtime the same night for a league-best 43rd win.

From the start, both Montgomery and Mazzulla made it clear how much talent they knew they inherited, consistently crediting their rosters for the success. With the return of Patrice Bergeron from potential retirement, with the quick return from surgery of Brad Marchand and Charlie McAvoy, with the ongoing brilliance of David Pastrnak, Montgomery started with a solid locker room. So did Mazzulla, whose familiarity with Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, and Al Horford paved the way for a smooth transition.

But this smooth? It’s a credit to coaching styles that do have their foundations set in kindred ways. Start here: Neither tried to reinvent the wheel.

As Montgomery pointed out in an interview back in November, when he had a chance to speak with Mazzulla before the Celtics took the court, both coaches stuck with defensive approaches that worked well a season ago, while both tried to punch up their offenses. The result?

“They’re scoring at levels they haven’t scored at and so are we,” Montgomery said. “There’s a lot of similarities in the way we both have approached taking over new teams and the results have been dynamite for both teams.”

Both men have demonstrated a willingness to listen to locker room leaders. For Montgomery, that meant hearing Bergeron and Co. when they made it clear they didn’t back the controversial signing of minor leaguer Mitchell Miller. For Mazzulla, it meant keeping the space open to heal from the loss of Udoka, very much beloved by his players.

Rare is the rookie coach who wins a championship; rarer still is the same city pulling off the NBA/NHL championship double.

That would be a cool thing to have in common.