Fans salute Celtics, Banner 18 at championship parade on Friday

New England native, Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla uses his religious values to lead team to the NBA title

By Joe McConnell

After a five-year drought between championship parades, Boston’s iconic duck boats are being rolled out today (June 21) to escort the Boston Celtics around the city for Boston sports fans to cheer them on once again after they secured Banner 18 Monday night, June 17, at the TD Garden. They ended up defeating the Dallas Mavericks going away, 106-88 to win the 2024 NBA Finals four games to one.

Led by Jaylen Brown, the NBA Finals MVP, and Jason Tatum, the Celtics have jumped over the Los Angeles Lakers, their longtime rivals, in championship banners, 18-17 after the Game 5 win over fifth-seeded Dallas, the western conference champs.

There’s also a local element to this championship story that makes it more compelling in the eyes of the partisan Boston fan.

Second-year Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla was born in Johnston, R.I. on June 30, 1988. He attended Bishop Hendricken High School, an institution noted for its excellence in sports for decades in the Ocean State. Mazzulla was an integral player on three of its state championship boys basketball teams, including hitting a last-second shot to secure the third title in his senior campaign.

Mazzulla went on to play for the West Virginia Mountaineers, where as a freshman in 2007, he helped the team win the National Invitation Tournament (NIT). The Mountaineers made the NCAA Tournament in 2008, and were able to upset Duke in a second-round game. Mazzulla was credited with 13 points, 11 rebounds and 8 assists to help lead his teammates past the Blue Devils. He then suffered a shoulder injury the following year. But as a redshirt junior, Mazzulla led the Mountaineers to the 2010 NCAA Final Four as one of the team’s captains. However, they lost to eventual champion Duke in a semifinal game. Prior to that contest in the Elite 8 game against Kentucky, Mazzulla scored a then-career-high 17 points to help his teammates pull off the upset. As a senior, Mazzulla averaged 7.7 points and 3.8 rebounds per game. Throughout his collegiate career, he had 700 points and 340 assists.

Mazzulla started his coaching career at Glenville State as an assistant in 2011. Two years later, he became an assistant at Fairmont State, before becoming an assistant for the Maine Red Claws, the Celtics G League team during the 2016-17 season. He returned to Fairmont State to become its head coach in 2017, before returning to the Celtics organization in 2019 as one of the NBA’s team’s assistant coaches. He was promoted to head coach for the 2022-23 season, taking over for Ime Udoka. One year later, he guided the team to the organization’s 18^th championship, the youngest coach ever to win an NBA title in the history of the league, beating out former Celtics player-coach and legendary Hall of Famer Bill Russell by months.

But what struck many fans throughout this year’s playoff run was Mazzulla’s references to his faith in God during postgame press conferences. After the Celtics won the championship on Monday night, he was seen wearing a shirt with the words “BUT FIRST…LET ME THANK GOD” on it.

As a devout Roman Catholic, he’d recite the rosary hours before home games, while walking around the fabled parquet court at the TD Garden with rosary beads his wife, Camai Roberson Mazzulla, made for him out of remnants from the original Celtics floor. His players to a man bought into his ideals, often citing God during their postgame media obligations after Monday’s game.

Mazzulla uses his religious values to establish in some cases his coaching strategy. His message is simple: Great leadership is centered around humility and selflessness, and he believes his players reflect that philosophy. He recently said: “You see it right in front of your face, and you see a group of guys doing it, and it doesn’t get the appreciation and the recognition that it deserves.”

In this day and age, where many shy away from publicly professing their religious beliefs, Joe Mazzulla is not afraid to follow the word of God. Through his lifestyle, he has become a championship coach in the long and storied history of the Boston Celtics. But he has also proven that he’s more importantly a winner off the court.