Celtics: “We’re all going to be dead soon, and it doesn’t matter anymore, so there’s no pressure.” Joe Mazzola has provided plenty of memorable quotes since taking over as head coach of the Celtics. (Daniel Parhizkaran/Global Staff)
Joe Mazzola is no stranger to making headlines while answering questions from the media.
Before the start of the Celtics’ title defense during the 2024-25 season, Boston’s coach did not mince words when asked about the pressure facing the defending champions.
“Zero. There’s no pressure,” Mazzola said Monday afternoon at the Auerbach Center. “We’re all going to die soon, and it doesn’t matter anymore, so there’s no pressure. You either win or you don’t. When you win, you try to forget it after a week, and when you lose, you try to forget it after a week. So, this is not pressure, but opportunity. We have a chance here for the next few years, however long we’re together.
“I’ve said this in the past, you have an opportunity to move the organization forward, multiply the tradition and history of this organization. What else do you expect from someone expecting you to win all the time? I don’t want anyone to expect me to lose all the time. That would be debilitating. So We have expectations to win.”
Mazzola was not one to shirk the high expectations placed on his team after clinching a long-awaited 18th championship.
And while Mazzola’s focus is on preparing his team for a stronger field in the Eastern Conference in 2024-24, he’s not paying much attention to outside noise — especially from the media.
“A member of the Boston media or someone who expects me to win, they don’t have a gun. They’re not going to come after me if we don’t win,” Mazzola said. “They’re saying the words. So, it doesn’t mean anything. They’re just words. You only say them because you have to say them. You are contractually obligated to write a 500-word article after that. They’re just words, you can’t do anything. So (pressure) is just a made-up word. We have no pressure. If we lose, we don’t lose our lives.
“We’re not surgeons, we’re not in the military, we coach basketball for a living. No one puts more pressure and expectations on ourselves than we do. We have responsibility and we have ownership. I ask guys all the time, would you rather have someone expect you to lose or to win?” Like, if you came in here and said, ‘I really expected you to lose that match,’ I’d be angry but if you came to me saying, ‘You should have won that match,’ it’d be like, yeah, that’s what we signed up for so I think that’s it Just a perspective of how you look at it.
Of course, tuning out the hype is easier said than done — as evidenced by the current firestorm that Patriots coach Jerrod Mayo is dealing with following his candid comments about his team on Sunday.
But Mazzola remained firm when pressed on whether words have power, whether through the media or other avenues.
“No, they don’t,” Mazzola said. “If you let them, if you let words take your personal power, then yes. So I don’t let words take my personal power. This is just important. Words have no power. They only have power if you let them.”
“That’s what I try to teach my kids, is I don’t give a (expletive) what someone says to you, did you let that have an effect on you? Like, he didn’t put his hands on you, he didn’t touch you, he didn’t do anything. He said something to you. And now You have a choice to decide how you will interpret it.
“So it’s not pressure. There’s nothing that anyone in this department can do to me that will affect my identity and who I am as a person or a coach. We either win or we don’t win, and 40 years from now, none of you will be invited to my funeral and that’s all.” something.
Mazzola and the Celtics will officially announce the new season on Tuesday night when they host the New York Knicks at TD Garden.
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Connor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.
