During a local radio appearance on Wednesday, Boston Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said that he has been told to stop trying to block opponents' shots during dead-ball situations. Mazzulla would not say who had given him that directive but added, "I don't think it's a rule, but I'm sure it will be in the next 24-48 hours."
Earlier this month, Mazzulla made headlines when he closed out hard and contested a 3-pointer by Phoenix Suns forward Royce O'Neale after a timeout.
After the Celtics' 127-112 win, Mazzulla explained the unique approach.
"Guys don't shoot shots in front of our bench to go back to their bench to feel good about themselves," Mazzulla said. "If I'm gonna ask the guys to contest, the staff's gotta do the same.
"At the end of the day, it's about the mindset and the approach that we bring, and it's within the rules of the game. It's about setting a tone, and it's just that. One of the biggest pet peeves is thinking that a guy's gonna get a free shot and that's not the way it works. If we're gonna hold our team to a standard, we hold our staff to the same thing."
While Celtics players such as Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown appreciated Mazzulla's tenacity, others weren't as supportive. Most notably, Charles Barkley said on 'Inside the NBA' that he would have "knocked the hell" out of Mazzulla if he was in O'Neale's shoes.
It remains unclear exactly who had a conversation with Mazzulla, but it's not surprising that he's been told to stop. It's one thing for players to prevent shots from going in during dead balls, especially when they usually wait at the rim, dozens of feet from their opponent, then jump up and knock it away. It's another thing for a coach to be closing out near an opposing player's feet. The last thing the league needs is a player getting hurt because Mazzulla got in his landing area.
Even though Mazzulla said he and his staff won't be employing this tactic anymore, it was another example of the culture he's tried to build in Boston.
"We can laugh about it, but at the end of the day, you have small moments in your organization to set the temperature of what you want to be about and we did that last year and dating back," Mazzulla said on Wednesday. "That's an important thing for our team, the mindset we try to bring.
"That we're gonna bring it every day, that we want our opponents to constantly be uncomfortable, we don't want to give them an edge at any point. I appreciate the players allowing us to be ourselves as a staff, I appreciate the staff buying into that. You feel like you get small moments to set the temperature and that was one of the ways."
So far, so good. The Celtics are a league-best 54-14 entering Wednesday and have a 6.5-game lead in the race for the best overall record.
