{"id":36966,"date":"2024-06-13T12:44:54","date_gmt":"2024-06-13T16:44:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=36966"},"modified":"2024-06-13T12:44:54","modified_gmt":"2024-06-13T16:44:54","slug":"celtics-head-coach-joe-mazzulla-stuns-reporters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2024\/06\/celtics-head-coach-joe-mazzulla-stuns-reporters.html","title":{"rendered":"Celtics Head Coach Joe Mazzulla Stuns Reporters"},"content":{"rendered":"
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WFAA \/ YouTube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla left reporters speechless after he was asked a racial question as his team prepared to go into game 2 of the NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks. The number-one ranked Celtics won game 1 in a decisive victory over the Mavericks 107-89. During the press conference, Yahoo Sports senior reporter Vincent Goodwill asked how Mazzulla felt about facing another black head coach, Jason Kidd of the Mavericks. \u201cGiven the plight sometimes of Black head coaches in the NBA, do you think this is a significant moment? Do you take pride in this? How do you view this, or do you not see it at all?\u201d asked Goodwill.<\/p>\n

Mazzulla, however decided to engage the question in a different way. \u201cI wonder how many of those have been Christian coaches,\u201d he responded. Mazzulla is Catholic and has openly spoken about his faith. In April, speaking to Sports Spectrum<\/em><\/a>, he spoke about how his faith has helped with his competitive nature. \u201cIn the competitive environment that we are in, we are always used to earning something. When you apply that competitive nature to your faith, it creates a lot of, for me, anxiety, stress and like and separation from Christ,\u201d he said. \u201cSo when I was able to really go down the road to grace and understanding that I can’t earn it, and I don’t have to be competitive, it’s not a win or loss. It’s an acceptance. That is one of the virtues that we can really show each other in the world today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mazzulla\u2019s response seemed to leave the reporters in a few moments of stunned silence before they moved on to the next question. It\u2019s not the first time he\u2019s responded with a witty reference to his faith. In 2022, he was asked if he\u2019d met members of the Royal Family after they\u2019d attended a game. He responded by asking if the question was in reference to, \u201cJesus, Mary and Joseph.\u201d When the reporter clarified that it was in reference to the British Royal Family, he said, \u201cI’m only familiar with one Royal Family. I don’t know too much about that one.\u201d Conservative commentator Brandon Tatum said he approved of the way Mazzulla handled the question. \u201cBoston Celtics head coach, Joe Mazulla, continues his strategy of NOT giving in to race baiting reporters,\u201d wrote Tatum on X<\/a>. Instead, he flipped the script to questioning if the coaches were Christians. The reporter left stunned LOL well done coach!\u201d The Celtics went on to win Game 2 and 3 of the Finals and lead the Dallas Mavericks 3-0 in the NBA Finals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla left reporters speechless after he was asked a racial question as his team prepared to go into game 2 of the NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks. The number-one ranked Celtics won game 1 in a decisive victory over the Mavericks 107-89. During the press conference, Yahoo Sports senior reporter…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":36972,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-television"],"yoast_head":"\nCeltics Head Coach Joe Mazzulla Stuns Reporters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla left reporters speechless.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2024\/06\/celtics-head-coach-joe-mazzulla-stuns-reporters.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta 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