NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: HEAT VS. CELTICS

May 27, 2023

Joe Mazzulla

Boston Celtics

Game 6: Pregame

Q. Malcolm's status?

JOE MAZZULLA: He's got to warm up, do his shooting time and kind of see how he feels from there.

Q. Miami is going to give you their best shot right away. You guys have had a tendency, when the other team makes a big run, to sometimes kind of go off and maybe try to do too much. How do you rein that in and keep those guys sticking to the plan if Miami goes off on that big run?

JOE MAZZULLA: Yeah, just understanding that gives us the best chance to win. The reason why we're still here is just stick together through those runs, and keep working to make the more physical plays.

Q. Is Malcolm's thing just a pain tolerance issue?

JOE MAZZULLA: I actually don't know exactly what it is.

Q. With Grant, you obviously had a strong preexisting relationship with him coming into this. How does that bond you guys had help you guys with some tough conversations over the course of the year when he wasn't playing, and how does it help you now having that next level of confidence that he's ready?

JOE MAZZULLA: I think appreciate his humility and professionalism to understand how it works and always be ready to play. We have each other's back. We have a level of communication and trust with each other that we can just communicate exactly what's going on.

So from day one, he's had a trust factor, he's had a humility and a professionalism.

Q. Do you think is there anything to be drawn from being in the Philly series, like on the road facing elimination at this point? I know you got here differently, but is there anything to be drawn from that experience?

JOE MAZZULLA: I think you have to try to take from every experience, which I think is a strength of this team. Being together as long as they have, they have the ability to draw from different experiences.

So like you said, regardless at the end of the day we are facing elimination, and we just have to stick to when we are at our best and just be the tougher-playing team.