Mazzulla: “It feels good” to win first NBA title

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia alumnus Joe Mazzulla reached the pinnacle of pro basketball’s mountaintop Monday night as he led the Boston Celtics to an NBA championship.

The victory was historic in more ways than one.

A head coach at Division II Fairmont State as recently as 2019, Mazzulla is just in his second year as the lead man of the Celtics.

Asked post-game how it feels to win an NBA title, his response was, “It feels good.”

Mazzulla consistently credited the players after the game. Multiple times he acknowledged the franchise’s players and coaches who came before them, saying their contributions should not and will not go unnoticed. Mazzulla said those Celtics contributors laid the groundwork for the success he and his team enjoyed this year.

At 35 years old, Mazzulla is the sixth head coach his age or younger to win an NBA championship, and the youngest to do so since Celtics legend Bill Russell in 1969. Russell needed seven games to claim the title as a player-coach that season.

Mazzulla needed just five NBA Finals games to capture his first ring, though it didn’t come easy.

“I feel like it’s going to be like that for the rest of my career, as it should be. Just having an understanding that praise and criticism are both just as dangerous if you don’t handle them well,” said Mazzulla in response to a question about the reaction from the Celtics’ fan base throughout his first two years as head coach. “It’s Boston. You wouldn’t want it any other way. And I think the ownership and the responsibility to give back to the franchise and back to the city, that’s just part of it. But, you need it. You need that. You need criticism. You need praise. You need expectations. All of those things go into making you who you are as a person, making you who you are as people, as an organization.”

Mazzulla called it a “joy” to go on the journey with this Celtics team this season, crediting the players and organization for their work and dedication throughout the year.

The former Mountaineer spearheaded a team that, statistically, was among the best the NBA has seen in the 21st century. He has now led Boston to its 18th league title, the most in the Association and third-most across professional sports in the United States.

“It’s a blessing. It’s a blessing. I don’t deserve it, but because of grace I’m here,” Mazzulla said on ESPN’s SportsCenter. “Right now, God’s put us in control of this responsibility, this ownership, this organization. It’s our job to move it along as best we can. And I’m just really grateful for everyone that helped us get here.”

Mazzulla is as reserved as they come, and only briefly showed outward exuberance Monday night, at least publically. When asked how he will celebrate his first NBA title, he gave an unexpected, yet, in a way, fittingly understated answer.

“Hey, guess what. I got to have knee surgery. I tore my meniscus in March after we lost to Atlanta,” he said.

Before he goes under the knife, Mazzulla and the Celtics will ride duckboats in downtown Boston as they celebrate their historic accomplishment.

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