The Boston Celtics are off to an encouraging start under interim head coach Joe Mazzulla.
They opened their preseason Sunday afternoon against the Charlotte Hornets and put on a show at TD Garden. With 22 3-pointers on the day, the C's treated the home crowd to a dominant 134-93 victory.
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Sure, it was only an exhibition, but Mazzulla thoroughly enjoyed his time on the sideline. He took a moment after the win to reflect on his unofficial NBA head coaching debut.
"It felt like I was coaching a great team that wanted to win," Mazzulla said. "That was fun to coach. Just grateful for it. Like I said, grateful because the Celtics, grateful because I get to coach a bunch of great guys and great players. And not many people in my position get that opportunity, so just really being more grateful than anything else."
Boston's ball movement was perhaps the biggest takeaway from Sunday's performance. It finished with a whopping 41 assists to Charlotte's 13. C's offseason addition Malcolm Brogdon contributed nine of them.
"They want to play the right way," Mazzulla added. "They had good intentions."
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The Celtics didn't miss a beat in their first game without Ime Udoka, who was suspended for the season after violating team rules. Brogdon heaped praise on his new head coach after the game.
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"He was excellent," Brogdon said of Mazzulla. "I thought he was composed. I thought he had some excellent out-of-timeout plays."
Jaylen Brown was the star for the C's with 24 points (8-11 FG) in 24 minutes. Other standouts included sharpshooter Sam Hauser (14 pts, 4-5 3PT) and big man Mfiondu Kabengele (10 pts, 3 reb in 11 minutes).
Next up for Mazzulla's group is a Wednesday night exhibition vs. the Toronto Raptors. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. ET. at TD Garden.