Special Kind Of Crazy: Celtics’ Joe Mazzulla Shares Knee Injury Details

Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla will have to go through some physical maintenance once the NBA championship celebrations slow down a bit this summer.

Not long after Boston clinched the title Monday night, Mazzulla revealed he’s due to undergo surgery on his knee to repair a torn meniscus. In a follow-up interview on Barstool Sports’ “Pardon My Take,” the C’s coach explained he suffered the injury during a jiu-jitsu session in March. While an injury right before the playoffs would frustrate most players and coaches, the offbeat Mazzulla found positives in the situation,

“After we lost to Atlanta, I just went out on the mats, punished myself and just pounded my body until it couldn’t take anymore and ended up just tearing my knee,” Mazzulla said on “Pardon My Take,” as transcribed by MassLive. “It ended up being a great experience for me. I had to do, like, six hours of treatment in order to coach the next game without too much of a limp because I could not walk.”

Mazzulla added: “I’ll tell you what, it was one of the best things that happened to me for the rest of the season because it put me in this fight or flight mentality where I could just not relax. I had to constantly train to keep it pain-free, had to constantly get physical therapy. My physical therapist has been great and it was just awesome. I’ve been thinking about maybe getting hurt every All-Star break.”

While Mazzulla currently isn’t at 100% physically, his injury hasn’t prevented him from basking in the glory of a championship. The C’s coach was out and about with the Larry O’Brien Trophy in the days after the clincher, and he’s set to enjoy a duck boat parade through the streets of Boston on Friday.