Joe Mazzulla offered more morbid wisdom when asked about the Celtics’ pressure to repeat

The Boston Celtics will embark on their title defense on Tuesday night when they play the first game of the 2024-25 NBA season against the New York Knicks. It’s the return of basketball, and with that return comes the usual offering of bizarre quotes from the ever-attentive Celtics boss Joe Mazzulla.

On Monday, the third-year coach spoke to reporters after practice about the upcoming season and answered a question about the kind of pressure the Celtics face to repeat as NBA champions. He offered a morbid response.

“We’ll all be dead soon, and it doesn’t really matter anymore.”

A standard Mazzulla response.

And that’s also why Mazzulla makes life more interesting. He answered a pretty simple question about expectations and narratives heading into the NBA season and made it newsworthy. Better yet, it’s directly in line with everything we know about the eccentric coach, who has said this offseason that he expects the team to have a target in its eyes this year. Mazzulla, in fact, remains consistent in his messaging. Even though it may lean a little…dark.

Mazzulla’s campaign to write a whole new coaching book will continue Tuesday night at TD Garden.