For Boston Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla, the team’s championship parade in 2024 was biblical.
While speaking with Julian Edelman on the ”Games With Names" podcast, Mazzulla looked back on winning a title in Boston last year and recalled a text message he got from his priest the morning of the team’s championship parade, comparing the celebration through the city to the Christian holiday of Palm Sunday.
Palm Sunday falls on the Sunday before Easter. It commemorates Jesus Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem and its name originates from the palm branches waved by the waiting crowd.
Mazzulla, a practicing Catholic, couldn’t help but see the similarities.
“You’re waiting for that next Easter. It may or may not come,” Mazzulla said. “That’s the space of happily miserable duality.”
Good Friday falls two days before Easter Sunday and commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, while Easter commemorates His resurrection.
Mazzulla knows that sometimes his team’s season might fall short, comparing that ending to Good Friday, but always strives to make it to the end and win a title (a.k.a Easter Sunday).
“When that (final) horn went off, that was the only thing I thought about, was how are we going to do this again,” Mazzulla said about winning the championship. “What do we have to do? And not in an unhealthy way ... that has to be the focus. It’s got to be the relationships with the people, and it’s got to be ‘How do we get back to Easter Sunday again’?
The Celtics will have a difficult time getting back to that point this upcoming season following a disorienting end to the postseason and an eventful offseason.
All-Star Jayson Tatum ruptured his achilles tendon during the team’s playoff series with the New York Knicks in May and is expected to miss all of next season. The Celtics also made deals trading away two key pieces of the organization’s title team in 2024, dealing Kristaps Porzingis to the Atlanta Hawks and Jrue Holiday to the Portland Trail Blazers in June.
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