NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: HEAT VS. CELTICS

May 21, 2023

Joe Mazzulla

Boston Celtics

Game 3: Pregame

Q. Are you going to stay with the small lineup you started the second half with the other day?

JOE MAZZULLA: Yes.

Q. For the first couple games, your guys' three-point attempts are down a little bit. I know Miami has put a lot of pressure on you in terms of bringing the ball up. Is that the biggest reason why that's been the case or is there anything else that's changed that's caused your attempts to go down?

JOE MAZZULLA: The attempts are down in early offense, so we have got to dictate the pace, play a little faster to get those early in the shot clock. And then obviously with their switching and their zone, they try to prevent those. We just have to play faster, whether it's in transition or the halfcourt to generate those.

Q. Is that part of the transition to going smaller from your standpoint, to play a little quicker?

JOE MAZZULLA: Yes.

Q. Throughout a lot of these playoffs, you've talked about the importance of fighting for spacing. Just wondering, what does that look like to you? What are the indications that you guys are fighting for spacing when you're looking out there?

JOE MAZZULLA: Corner filled, depending on if we are double big or if it's Al or if it's Rob, just making sure Rob is either setting screens or he's in a dunker, that the corners are filled, and we're just trying to create advantages.

Q. So much has been made about your home record but what do you guys do so well on the road that you like about your team from the mindset all the way through?

JOE MAZZULLA: Just stay poised throughout the game. Regardless of home or away, when we're at our best, we keep our poise. We execute down the stretch, whether it's defense, offense, and just kind of stick together.

Q. I know you've talked about the pace and getting up the floor and stops being key to countering the zone, but in the halfcourt, if they do have you in the halfcourt, what are some of the keys, spacing, or just personnel-wise to counteract in that?

JOE MAZZULLA: I mean, you know, the looks that we get, we have got to knock down and then we can't pass up the open ones and we just have to look to generate those. It's important that we generate advantage early in the shot clock to just get into our offense. When we're at our best, that's kind of what we do.