Joe Mazzulla’s bizarre gamble backfires in Celtics Game 7 loss to 76ers | Brian Robb
Joe Mazzulla went too far with one adjustment in Game 7 on Saturday night.
BOSTON — Joe Mazzulla has never been known for his playoff adjustments but he was forced into making at least one Saturday night. Jayson Tatum was a late scratch due to left knee stiffness about two hours before tip, taking Boston’s biggest star out of the starting five. The Celtics had played 66 regular-season games without Tatum this year so while losing Boston’s best player was a massive loss, the team was certainly well equipped to proceed without him.
Mazzulla had done so in the regular season with great success with a versatile lineup. Boston’s starting five all series had been bad (-9. 4 net rating) so a change was overdue regardless.
The options seemed simple. The Celtics had been at their best with Payton Pritchard on the floor all series long so he was a logical candidate to slide in. Elsewhere, Baylor Scheierman had outplayed Sam Hauser in stretches.
Maybe Jordan Walsh would get a chance for his defense in that spot too. Mazzulla refused to reveal his changes in his pregame press conference per usual but it would be telling what direction he went in. However, no one was quite ready for the extremes that Mazzulla went to after six games of limited personnel adjustments.