Joe Mazzulla Defends Celtics’ Offensive Process After Loss

The Boston Celtics’ West Coast road trip got off to a bad start on Sunday, Dec. 28, as Joe Mazzulla’s team suffered a 114-108 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers. The team as a whole struggled to shoot the ball, converting just 29.5% of their 44 three-point attempts.

Despite their scoring struggles, Boston stuck to its offensive principles. Mazzulla’s team executed its usual offensive style but failed to generate any scoring momentum, as the entire team, aside from Jaylen Brown, went ice cold.

“I thought our process offensively was really good,” Mazzulla said during his postgame news conference. “I mean, they’re obviously tough to get good shots against with Clingan at the rim. So I thought, obviously, our screening was a little bit inconsistent, seven illegal screens. Our bigs are trying to get those guys off the body. But I thought the process of the shots that we got throughout the game was pretty good. We just didn’t make them…So for most of the game, I thought that our offense, from a process standpoint, was pretty good. Obviously not at the end in our late-game execution, but you have to give credit to Portland.”

When looking at the bigger picture, Mazzulla is right to focus on the process rather than the individual result. After all, the Celtics came into the game against Portland on the back of a four-game win streak.

Nevertheless, Boston will undoubtedly face criticism for not adjusting when it became clear its three-point offense wasn’t clicking. However, it’s important to note that 47 of Boston’s 91 shots came on the interior, so there was a balance to the team’s shot profile.

The Trail Blazers have multiple talented defenders. They also have significant size and length throughout the squad, which allowed them to win the rebounding battle, adding more urgency to the Celtics’ approach. And when the Celtics got sped up on both sides of the ball, their offense struggled as a result.

Boston still has three games left on its West Coast road trip. Mazzulla’s team still has to play the Sacramento Kings, LA Clippers and Utah Jazz. They will be back in action on Tuesday, Dec. 30, facing off against Will Hardy’s Utah team in the hope of bouncing straight back into the win column.