Monday night’s New York Knicks victory over the Boston Celtics was a wild affair. Not only are the defending champions now down 3-1 in their series against New York, but they also lost their best player, Jayson Tatum, to a non-contact injury in the 4th quarter, with many believing it to be an Achilles tear. One person who has no sympathy for Boston is former player Brandon Jennings, who heavily criticized Joe Mazzulla once the game concluded.
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Jennings joined Gilbert Arenas on his No Chill Gil stream shortly after the Knicks emerged victorious 121-113. He didn’t sugarcoat how angry he was at Mazzulla, the person he put the sole blame on for the Celtics’ loss.
“Joe is a terrible f***ing coach,” Jennings began. “Trying to shoot 3-pointers and gambling with your f***ing life. Your f***ing team is trash Joe.”
The 35-year-old veteran does have a point. Boston was incredibly stagnated in the second half, and Mazzulla was outcoached by Thom Thibodeau, who put perimeter pressure on the Celtics to avoid the barrage of 3-pointers that was killing the Knicks in the first half.
This also put pressure on Boston and didn’t allow them to play half-court sets. The loss of Tatum only added to Mazzulla’s bad night.
“The face of the NBA, he’s out right now,” screamed Jennings, who once again pointed his finger at Mazzulla for the Celtics superstar possibly being sidelined for the long haul.
Arenas and company tried to talk some sense to Jennings, but he wasn’t hearing any of it. “Hey, Boston, fire Joe,” he added.
Jennings does need to pull it back a bit though. The Celtics won the title last year by playing the same exact ball they’ve been playing this year. The Game 1 and Game 2 losses to the Knicks were wild circumstances, and Game 3 showed how dominant this team can truly be when they are accurate from behind the arc.
That said, the Celtics’ future does look a little gloomy from here. Even if they managed to squeak by the Knicks down 3-1, it doesn’t seem like they’d be able to hold up against the Pacers, who have a magic man in Tyrese Haliburton. Tatum’s injury also leaves a glaring hole in who they run the offense through.
What’s even worse is that the squad has the large contracts that several players have, making next season look unpredictable. Will they clean house? Does Jalen Brown stay now that Tatum might be out for next season as well? Is Kristaps Porzingis worth the money? These are major questions that will have to be answered.
Based on how this series against the Knicks has gone, Boston may be able to figure some of this out sooner rather than later.
