Dude, I'm Extremely High

Shank's not trying to put too much pressure on the guy, is he?

Expectations are extremely high for the Celtics — and Joe Mazzulla is fine with that

He grew up here, just like you and me, and he knows how important the Celtics are going to be in this spring of 2024. He has seen the recent decline of the once-great Patriots and Red Sox, and he knows fans think it’s about time for the Celtics to step forward and win a championship — the way they did regularly in the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s.

Rhode Island-raised Joe Mazzulla is still only 35 years old, and the franchise he coaches has won only one banner in his lifetime (2008), but he knows the expectations that come with coaching a team of All-Stars after recent playoffs featuring near-misses.

Everybody says the Celtics have the best team this year. And … if the Green don’t win it all, everybody probably will say it’s because their coach is too inexperienced, and they rely too much on threes, and he doesn’t call enough timeouts, and he cares too much for analytics, and that the late-game execution is lacking when the score is close.

This site has knocked Shank early and often when his columns contain the element of overhyping a team for the sole purpose of knocking them down later. I don't believe that applies with this team this year, but as Shank has noted a few columns ago, they need to win the tough games in order to win it all.