“Why didn’t the Celtics call a timeout????” wrote CBB ON FOX and NBCSports journalist John Fanta on X, asking the burning question that was on the minds of so many fans after the recent Celtics-Knicks matchup. Becoming one of the first teams to commence the Conference Semi-Finals of the ongoing playoffs, Jayson Tatum and Co. went into Game 1 at TD Garden with high expectations. Unfortunately, the Knicks put up a tough fight, resulting in the game being a close one in the final minute. With mere seconds left, Boston found itself down two after a missed three from Josh Hart.

However, rather than taking a timeout, Joe Mazzulla let his team dribble the ball up the floor. Nothing happened. He later sprinted up the sidelines and tried to call a timeout, but it was too late. Amidst all this, Celtics fans wanted an explanation, which the man himself was willing to give.

Joe Mazzulla participated in a presser after the Celtics’ 105-108 loss. During the same, he was asked by a reporter to be taken through that final stretch of the overtime period; whether Mazzulla was thinking about taking it earlier in that situation than the 3-second mark, or did he want to kind of see how it would play out? The Celtics’ head coach revealed initially did not want to act in haste, since he felt like the team had speed, and would have managed to make a dent with two left. However, Mazzulla also put a bit of the blame on the referees, since he believed they failed to notice the time-out call when it was attempted to be brought to their attention.

“Then I was at half-court, probably around 8 or 9, calling it in and seeing it, and then, they ended up following him,” said Mazzulla. “So, we used it there. So, just a feel thing of knowing that when you call it, they’re gonna go to their defensive lineup, till we get something quick. You know, in transition”.

The odds majorly favored the Boston Celtics going into Game 1. After all, the team had recorded a five-game sweep of the Orlando Magic (despite injuries to both Tatum and Brown), and the New York Knicks could not win a single game against the Celtics in the recent regular season. Bet365 listed the Celtics’ odds as being -125 at -2.5 games, while DraftKings predicted the Celtics to win the series 4-1 (+215). With this recent lapse of judgement, and the referees’ alleged fault, however, Joe Mazzulla and co chipped off those odds.

Joe Mazzulla certainly had a plan in mind for the final seconds. NBCS Boston reporter Kayla Burton highlighted a courtside clip, which featured the head coach at the end of the final timeout, intensely drawing up different scenarios for a chance to send the game to double OT. Unfortunately, only a miracle can pull a team out when 0.6 seconds are remaining in regulation. Even Michael Jordan had 3 seconds when he made his iconic ‘The Shot’ in the 1989 playoffs. Unfortunately, what’s done is done now. The Celtics have to look towards Game 2 now and work on their mistakes.

However, Joe Mazzulla has made it clear that, except for the late time-out, another major lapse in the game was all-righty in his eyes.

Despite recording-breaking poor 3-point shooting, Joe Mazzulla defends Celtics’ shot selection: “We fought for good looks”

When the odds were being calculated by Bet365 and DraftKings, they would have failed to take into account just how poorly Jayson Tatum and co would shoot during the matchup. It was obvious that with a defender like Karl-Anthony Towns, the Celtics would have some trouble scoring. However, by the end of the game, the Celtics squad, as a whole, had made just 15-60 (25.0%) 3-pointers.

Tatum and Derrick White, who made the most attempts, delivered only 4-15 (26.7%) and 5-16 (31.3%) shots, respectively. Joe Mazzulla’s team made the wrong kind of history Monday night, as their missed shots broke the previous record set by the Minnesota Timberwolves in this postseason. Despite this, Joe Mazzulla believes that his players weren’t at fault.

In the same presser, the 36-year-old said, “Obviously over the course of a game, you always can find five to 10 shots that you want to be better at, but I thought throughout the night for the most part we fought for good looks throughout the game. But yeah, you can find five to 10 that we could be better at”.

Mazzulla also added that “To me, I look at the process and the shot quality. So our shot quality was high”.

Yes, well, a 25% 3-point rating does not speak well towards ‘quality’ shooting. Therefore, with any hope, Mazzulla looks to fix this 3-point shooting issue for Game 2. It can be included in the changed game plan, which would also highlight how the Celtics can deal with the potential absence of Kristaps Porzingis (illness) and backup sharpshooter Sam Hauser (ankle).

Last, but not least, Joe Mazzulla should ensure to keep himself in the eyesight of a referee at all times.