What was worse for Boston fans than the New York Knicks defeating the Celtics in last season’s playoffs? The Achilles tendon tear suffered by their star player, Jayson Tatum. He will now miss most, if not all, of the 2025/26 season. It’s a devastating blow that has the front office contemplating whether to treat this as a rebuild year. Dan Shaughnessy, however, believes they shouldn’t.
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The Celtics somewhat choked in that Knicks series. In the first two games, they were up by 20 points, only to collapse thereafter and hand New York the win. Naturally, Head Coach Joe Mazzulla was blamed by many, and even Shaughnessy agrees.
Shaughnessy, a Boston Globe columnist, took shots at the 37-year-old head coach for losing to the Knicks, a team he did not even consider a true contender in the East. That is how quickly one can fall out of favor in the NBA. Just 12 months ago, Mazzulla was being praised for leading the Celtics to their first title since 2008. Now, he is being criticized for a loss to one of their biggest rivals.
“They lost to the Knicks in the Conference semifinals. Knicks of all people, who were really not a legitimate contender. Maybe they are now, but they weren’t last year,” stated Shaughnessy on NBA Radio. “Boston had 20 points leads in the first two games at home, and lost both of them. It’s impossible. That’s not a good feeling.”
“Joe is very stubborn…maybe that changes when you take [Jayson] Tatum out of the mix.”@Dan_Shaughnessy says the Celtics need to remain competitive this year, even with their superstar sidelined with injury. pic.twitter.com/O6HqnzRsVy
— SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) August 16, 2025
Shaughnessy specifically pointed to Boston’s constant attempts at three-point shooting as their biggest downfall, and argued that Mazzulla should have seen the writing on the wall. “There’s too much reliance on the 3s in my view, and the view of a lot of the fans. Particularly the older fans. Joe is very stubborn they’ve stayed with it.”
“Maybe that changes when you take Tatum out of the mix this year,” added Shaughnessy. “Holliday is out of the mix. Even Porzingis. They all like jacking them up. They made more than any team in history last year. But it sunk them in the end.”
Shaughnessy’s not wrong. The Celtics looked lost at times against the Knicks, settling for threes instead of exploiting mismatches or creating looks in the mid-range. Still, he would most likely be praising Mazzulla if the team had managed to win back-to-back titles. Instead, the columnist claimed the coach is now on the hot seat and urged the Celtics to remain competitiveeven without Tatum.
“He just got the contract extension so he’s here. And I think Tatum likes him, but Tatum’s not going to be around very much this year. We’ll see where it goes but he’s a little bit behind the 8-ball, even with the new deal.”
Celtics believe in Mazzulla
The Celtics just locked up Mazzulla with a new multi-year contract extension, which the organization announced a little over a week ago. It’s clear that despite their shortcomings, the Boston owners still trust him after he led the team to a 2024 title and posted one of the league’s best records since taking over.
Mazzulla also shouldn’t take the full blame for the Knicks series. Sometimes your team has the magic, and sometimes the magic is against you. New York can attest to that in their series against the Indiana Pacers. It will be interesting to see how Boston bounces back, but they at least know they have a good coach to lead the way.
