The Celtics continue to overcome most fans and basketball minds' expectations of this being a "bridge year" while Jayson Tatum rehabbed from a torn Achilles so far during the 2025-26 campaign.
Boston capped off the calendar year with Jaylen Brown winning Eastern Conference Player of the Week for a second time in December, and now Joe Mazzulla has earned Eastern Conference Coach of the Month honors.
San Antonio Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson and Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla have been named the NBA Western and Eastern Conference Coaches of the Month, respectively, for games played in December. pic.twitter.com/QHuJfHOy98
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) January 2, 2026
Mazzulla led the Celtics to a 9-3 record in December with victories over contending teams like the New York Knicks at home, the Cleveland Cavaliers on the road and even a 20-point comeback against the Indiana Pacers at TD Garden after benching his starters for nearly the entire the third quarter -- sparking the rally that resulted in erasing the deficit completely -- in one of the more impressive wins of the season.
Still, the C's have managed to climb the standings and currently have the third best record in the East at 21-12 following Thursday's 120-106 win on the road over the Sacramento Kings to start the new year. There's only a one-game difference in the loss column behind none other than the Knicks (22-11), while they trail the first-place Detroit Pistons by 3.5 games.
In December, the Celtics led the East in several statistics categories including win percentage (.750), field goal percentage (49.3%), net rating (10.1), and true shooting percentage (61.4%). Plus, Boston ranked second in 3-pointers made (15.9), third in blocks (5.5), third in offensive rebounding percentage (32.9%), and fourth in defensive rating (113.3) per game.
Mazzulla wins his fifth Coach of the Month award, the most of any other coach in the league since he took over the helm in Boston officially just prior to the 2022-23 season.
If the Celtics continue to ascend upwards, Mazzulla could definitely be considered as a Coach of the Year finalist, especially with Tatum still out and Brown playing like an MVP.
Brown, who did not take home East Player of the Month honors, put up 31.7 points per contest in December -- leading the NBA. He also recorded 6.4 rebounds, 5.4 assists per game, while shooting 53.8% from the field, and 42.6% from three-point range. The four-time All-Star was the only player in the Eastern Conference to have averages of 30 points, six rebounds and five assists last month, while notching 30 or more points in nine of his last 10 outings.
Mazzulla and his staff have without a doubt been a major cog in helping Brown hit this type of MVP-level play as a leader on and off the parquet.
The Celtics will wrap up their season-long five-game road trip in Los Angeles Saturday night when they face the red-hot Clippers (12-21) -- who have won six-straight.
Joel Pavón
No comments:
Post a Comment