A month ago, Joe Mazzulla was named a finalist for the NBA’s Coach of the Year award.
Following the team’s loss to the Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals, the 34-year-old’s future as Boston’s head coach was unclear.
In addition to being a finalist for Coach of the Year, Mazzulla is only a few months removed from signing a contract extension with the Celtics.
But after a blowout loss to the Heat in Game 7, some were questioning whether he’s still the right man for the job.
Will that lead to the Celtics moving on from Mazzulla? Here’s the latest on his job status in Boston:
The Celtics did turn things around with three consecutive wins against the Heat to force a Game 7.
They were unable to finish off the comeback with a 103-84 loss at TD Garden on Monday night.
This postseason did highlight some of the flaws for Mazzulla at this early stage of his head coaching career.
There were questions about his timeout usage during the regular season, but they got more pronounced in the playoffs.
Even though someone is usually made to be a scapegoat for postseason failures, Mazzulla isn’t deserving of all the blame for what happened.
Jaylen Brown went 7-of-43 from three-point range against the Heat.
Jayson Tatum injured his ankle early in Game 7 and scored just 14 points on 5-of-13 shooting.
Mazzulla was preparing for training camp as an assistant coach when he was named interim head coach on Sept.
22 after Ime Udoka was suspended for multiple violations of team policies.
Boston took the interim tag off Mazzulla and gave him a contract extension on Feb. 17. He went 57-25 during the regular season in his first year leading the team.
There’s certainly a lot of things for Mazzulla to improve upon going forward, but he was also the youngest head coach in the league this season at 34 years old.