The Celtics' Best Decision In Game 1? Becoming The Portland Trail Blazers.
A simple process to stopping the league's best remaining offensive engine and why there's still hope for Dallas
Despite being the most dominant team in the NBA all season, it’s been said that Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla gets “outcoached.” Boston would often give up runs, have poor offensive and defensive sets out of timeouts, and Mazzulla wouldn’t make adjustments — or so they said.
In Game 1, Mazzulla put on one of the better coaching performances we’ve seen of the playoffs, holding Luka Doncic to just one assist, a playoff career-low for the Slovenian. In a way, it felt like a déjà vu moment that called back to one particular playoff series from 2021, but with a little extra firepower. So what did Mazzulla and the Celtics do? It’s simple, really: they became the Portland Trail Blazers.
It sounds strange, considering the Trail Blazers are most commonly associated with mediocrity these days, but I can explain it with a simple three-step process — and why Dallas still has a significant surplus of hope despite it.
