The Celtics are undoubtedly the best team in basketball, entering the postseason with the best record in the NBA and an expectation that they’ll be playing into June.
Boston head coach Joe Mazzulla knows that means his team has a target on its back, so he’s doing whatever it takes to be prepared.
What does that entail? Reading.
Mazzulla, in an appearance on 98.5 The Sports Hub’s “Zolak & Bertrand” on Wednesday, shared that he’s been reading former Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers head coach Phil Jackson’s book “Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success” in preparation of the postseason.
Why?
“Just to kind of see the process towards championship teams and how they handle regular seasons and playoffs,” Mazzulla explained, as shared by Bobby Krivitsky of Sports Illustrated. “If you take a look at all the teams from the book that they talked about, every journey to the Finals looked completely different.”
The Celtics aren’t exactly steamrolling folks headed into the postseason. Boston dropped its final matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks, failing to get fouled a single time. It was a sleepy affair, which can be expected from a team that’s had the conference’s top seed locked up for a month.
Mazzulla and his newfound wisdom will look to change that, though, getting the C’s prepared for their most important playoff run yet.
