The Boston Celtics remained undefeated Monday night, beating the Milwaukee Bucks 119-108. The game was entertaining, and the superstars came out to play. But a sequence at the end of the third quarter drew much of the attention. Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla did his best to draw even more attention to the matter while appearing on Boston’s Home For Sports radio show with some pretty epic responses and ideas on fixing the NBA’s physicality issues.
Celtics Coach Joe Mazzulla Calls on NBA to Adopt Fighting
Joe Mazzulla Decries NBA’s Lack of Physicality
He might be mad, but all Mazzulla is asking for is a little more intensity in the grand scheme of things. That’s not too much, is it? Mazzulla might have the most epic, entertaining, and head-scratching press conference messages in all sports these days. Within the last two weeks, he has told reporters, ‘We’re all gonna be dead soon,’ and ‘None of you are invited to my funeral.’ When asked what the court tasted like during the Celtics championship banner and ring presentation, he responded, ‘Blood.’ He says whatever he wants; it’s really just incredible.
Mazzulla’s most recent comments, which included, yes, a baseball bat, regarding the league’s lack of physicality and fighting follow the aftermath of Monday night’s game against Milwaukee, where a little bit of scuffling ensued at the close of the third quarter. Jrue Holiday had just missed a layup, and a 24-second violation was called instead of a simple rebound. The game officials and members of the Celtics subsequently came to blows over the call, resulting in Boston being assessed a delay-of-game whistle and a technical foul. On the radio show, Mazzulla expressed his disappointment with the current state of the NBA and its restrictions on fighting.
“The biggest thing that we rob people of, from an entertainment standpoint, is you can’t fight anymore. I wish you could bring back fighting… you wanna talk about what’s robbing the league of more entertainment, what’s more entertaining than a little scuffle? How come in baseball they’re allowed to clear the benches? How come in hockey they’re allowed to… I don’t understand. “They have bats and weapons, we don’t. We just have a ball.
Mazulla would go on to say that ‘they have bats and weapons, we don’t. We just have a ball’. He’s not wrong. Basketball players are left with little but their fists. What he is also alluding to regarding the league’s lack of physicality is also right.
Is the NBA Too Soft?
While Mazzulla’s gesture towards integrating baseball bats and other un-named weapons into the league is lofty, he was only referring to baseball, right? Long gone are the days of on-court brawls in the fashion of the 80s and 90s. Outright violent acts and punching an opponent in the face have also disappeared, mostly anyway. Draymond Green just plays a different. Mazzulla is a hard man to read. For a moment, suppose much of what he’s saying is in jest. And his point at the heart of the matter is that the NBA has simply lost its physical and intensity touch.
Many around the league and in the NBA media have publicly called today’s NBA soft—legends of past decades, especially. Depending on the lens you look through, it might be. However, Mazzulla might only be pointing to the finger-tip foul calls, looking at the referee the wrong way, or players being shackled to emotionless robot versions of themselves because too loud of a “COME ON!” these days earns you a tech.
All Mazulla is looking for is some higher levels of intensity and physicality. Will Adam Silver and the NBA listen? Probably not. But the fact that the calmest and most collected coach in the league is pushing for this, well, there’s something there.
