New rules, so Mazzulla practicing his challenges
With 1 minute, 36 seconds left in the Celtics’ preseason game against the 76ers last Sunday, wing Oshae Brissett soared in for a thunderous putback slam over Philadelphia’s David Duke Jr.
But the basket was wiped away because Brissett was called for an overthe-back foul. The Celtics led by 6 points at the time, starters for each team had taken a seat quite a bit earlier, and the game did not count. It was the point in the night when everyone is usually ready to just go home.
But Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla signaled to the official he wanted to challenge the play. Even though it was a seemingly peculiar choice given the lack of actual stakes, Mazzulla stood by the decision, pointing out the value of the sequence. Brissett’s potential 3-point play had been waved off, and Duke was set to receive two free throws.
“So,” he said, “I think it was a perfect opportunity for a challenge.”
It was partly because he wanted justice, partly because he wanted to win, and partly because this is preseason for the coaching staff, too, and decisions such as this one could be paramount during a big game.
The NBA altered its rules for coach’s challenges this season. In past years, a team received just one challenge and was charged a timeout regardless of whether it was successful.
When teams are correct on their first challenge this season they will keep their timeout and receive a second challenge.
“There’s a process to it, and sometimes I think the process of challenging is more important whether you get the result or not,” Mazzulla said. “But it’ll be an interesting dynamic to the challenge this year knowing that you get it back, but on the second one you lose your timeout regardless.”
The rule change should also make teams more willing to use a challenge on a less consequential play. That was a risky proposition in the past, because it would leave the team with no challenge during crunch time.
In the preseason rematch against the 76ers Wednesday, for example, the Celtics challenged an out-of-bounds call in the final minute of the second quarter. They won, kept their timeout, and had another challenge in their back pocket.
Cassell’s influence is apparent
Sam Cassell spent three seasons as an assistant with the 76ers before joining Mazzulla’s coaching staff last summer. He played for eight teams over his 15-year career, which concluded when he helped the Celtics win the 2008 title.
Mazzulla said Cassell’s influence is already obvious.
“He’s a really, really unique guy and I’m really fortunate to have him,” he said. “He’s a guy we fell in love with on the bench, because he won a championship as a rookie and he won a championship in his last year playing. So he’s seen both sides of the NBA. If you sit on an NBA bench, he can sit on any seat and talk to a guy because he’s been in that same situation. So he’s one of the more important culture bearers because of all that experience, and he played for us, so he knows what it’s like and we’re going to really rely on him for that.”
Last season, Mazzulla inherited suspended coach Ime Udoka’s coaching staff when he was named interim coach in September. But in February he was named full-time coach and received an extension, and this summer he added several pieces to his staff, including Cassell and associate head coach Charles Lee.
“They’re learning my coaching style just as much as I’m learning about what they did in their last job and how they were effective in in-game, postgame and pregame routines, what that looks like,” Mazzulla said. “So, it’s preseason for everybody.”
Holiday to play in Olympics?
ESPN recently reported that USA Basketball was recruiting Celtics guard Jrue Holiday to play in the Paris Olympics. On Wednesday night Holiday said he hadn’t really given the possibility much thought, but he sounded intrigued.
“It’d be cool,” he said. “It’d be cool.”
Celtics forward Jayson Tatum, who helped Team USA to a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, said last week he is interested in playing for the team again.