Celtics' Joe Mazzulla Reflects on Win vs Pelicans, 'It's Like a Morgue in Here'

The Boston Celtics narrowly escaped with a win over the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday night, with the game coming down to the final seconds. It was a sloppy performance for Boston against a bad Pelicans team but they found a way to win.

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After the game, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla reflected on the win over New Orleans in the most Mazzulla way possible. The young head coach called the mood in the locker room 'like a morgue', putting a spin on the win.

"The ultimate compliment is we’re 28-11, and these are the types of conversations we’re having. It's a beautiful place to be. It's a great standard and great expectation, we have to deliver, we all know that."

“We’re what, third in the league? Which isn’t great. But it sounds like a morgue in here. That sounds trippy because of where we are trying to get to. It's the ultimate compliment and we continue to work through it."

Joe Mazzulla, after most of postgame centered around the Celtics’ struggles:

“The ultimate compliment is we’re 28-11, and these are the types of conversations we’re having.”

“We’re what, third in the league? Which isn’t great. But it sounds like a morgue in here.” pic.twitter.com/zGDPXXgdFg
— Noa Dalzell 🏀 (@NoaDalzell) January 13, 2025

Boston has been playing some strange basketball of late, at least by the standards that they set for themselves. When clicking, the Celtics are arguably the best team in the entire NBA but they have seemed unfocused at different times this season.

This could be due to the lack of seriousness of the regular season, with Boston looking ahead to the playoffs. This tends to happen after a team wins a title as the regular season doesn't seem as important as it used to be.

But the Celtics also know that they need to position themselves well for the postseason if they are going to repeat as NBA champions. Luckily they were able to come away with the win over the Pelicans but they will need to put a better effort out on the floor moving forward.

Boston will be taking on the Toronto Raptors next in what could be a "get right" type of game. Like New Orleans, Toronto hasn't had a great season so far but Boston can't overlook them.

This team needs to treat every game in the same manner, otherwise, they could find themselves on the wrong end of results. Following the game with the Raptors, the Celtics will be taking on a scrappy Orlando Magic team.

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