A month ago, Joe Mazzulla was named a finalist for the NBA's Coach of the Year award.
Following the team's loss to the Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals, the 34-year-old's future as Boston's head coach was unclear.
In addition to being a finalist for Coach of the Year, Mazzulla is only a few months removed from signing a contract extension with the Celtics. But after a blowout loss to the Heat in Game 7, some were questioning whether he's still the right man for the job.
Will that lead to the Celtics moving on from Mazzulla? Here's the latest on his job status in Boston:
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Will the Celtics fire Joe Mazzulla?
Following Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Boston's locker room "never got over Ime Udoka's dismissal as head coach" and the players "did not accept the organization's reasoning for doing it."
"That doesn't mean they haven't accepted Joe Mazzulla as head coach," Wojnarowski said. "But this is a team that really believed in Ime Udoka and had a strong connection with him."
MORE: Why the Celtics suspended Ime Udoka
The Celtics had a lot of success in Mazzulla's first season as head coach, finishing with the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference and returning to the Conference Finals, but they fell short of their goal of winning a championship.
That's not all Mazzulla's fault, of course, but he was criticized throughout the season for his reluctance to call timeouts. Fans also bemoaned his decision not to go to the big lineup that brought the team success last season sooner than Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals when the Celtics faced a 3-2 deficit against the 76ers.
Mazzulla's timeout management became a topic of conversation once again in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals. He chose not to take a single timeout during a third quarter in which the Heat outscored the Celtics 46-25. Mazzulla then took the blame for the Celtics not being ready for Game 3 of the series, which they lost by 26 points.
"I just didn't have them ready to play"
— NBA TV (@NBATV) May 22, 2023
Joe Mazzulla took the blame for Boston's Game 3 loss pic.twitter.com/ovoEhaeQHv
According to ESPN's Brian Windhorst, Celtics president Brad Stevens is a "huge believer" in Mazzulla and knows that "when you have a rookie coach, rookie mistakes will be made." However, Windhorst wrote after the Game 3 blowout loss that "nothing feels certain."
The Celtics went on to win Games 4, 5 and 6 to move within a single victory of the first comeback from a 3-0 series deficit in NBA history. But they came out shockingly flat in Game 7, falling 103-84 in front of their own fans at TD Garden.
Despite Boston nearly pulling off a historic comeback, some fans were once again voicing their displeasure with Mazzulla's coaching. The Celtics' offensive strategy seemed to fall apart down the stretch in Game 7, with poor shot selection and an overreliance on 3-pointers sinking their hopes. (An injury to Jayson Tatum didn't help.) They finished a woeful 9-of-42 (21.4 percent) from beyond the arc in the loss.
"The guys cared, they gave it everything they had. That's the most important thing," Mazzulla said after the game. "Obviously we didn't achieve our goal. We didn't win which was our goal, so we failed in that regard."
Despite the disappointment, Celtics star Jaylen Brown voiced his support for his head coach.
"I give Joe my respect," he told reporters. "Tough situation to be in, and he took it head on and ran with it. We've had two rookie head coaches in the last two years, and Joe picking up from Ime [Udoka] as an interim starting off and progressing to being the head coach, he just fully took that challenge on and led us to this point."
"I give Joe my respect."
— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) May 30, 2023
Jaylen Brown on Joe Mazzulla's journey as a head coach this season pic.twitter.com/FHtVczELh6
Update: On June 1, Stevens told the media that Mazzulla would return as head coach.
"Yeah, I think he is (the best head coach for this team)," Stevens told reporters at his season-ending press conference. "I thought he did a really good job with this group. Everybody's going to overreact to the best players and coaches after every game. That's always the way it is. We know that going in, so we have to be able to judge things on the whole."
Joe Mazzulla coaching record
The 2022-23 season was Mazzulla's first as a head coach.
The Celtics finished with a 57-25 record in the regular season, earning them the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference. They then went 11-9 in the 2023 NBA Playoffs, defeating the Hawks in six games in the first round and the 76ers in seven games in the second round before losing to the Heat in seven games.
| Season | Regular season record | Postseason record | Result |
| 2022-23 | 57-25 | 11-9 | Lost Eastern Conference Finals |
Joe Mazzulla contract
On Feb. 16, the Celtics removed Mazzulla's interim tag by naming him the team's head coach. They also agreed to a contract extension, the terms of which were not disclosed.
“As he has shown, Joe is a very talented coach and leader,” Stevens said in a team statement. “He has a unique ability to galvanize a room around a mission. We are thankful for the work he has done to help get us to this point, and excited that he has agreed to lead us into the future."
The Athletic's Shams Charania reported after Game 7 that Mazzulla has $14 million guaranteed on the remaining three years of his deal.