Joe Mazzulla is an NBA championship-winning head coach. He took the Boston Celtics to the next level after taking over the main job. He has always stood out in one aspect. Mazzulla is obsessed with perfection and demands nothing but the utmost from his players, including his stars.
The stories of Mazzulla are legendary; his quotes are really wild, too. Just earlier this year, he explained why Jaylen Brown should never want to physically fight him. And Mazzulla keeps it real regardless of who he is talking to, as one child reporter recently found out.
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"It's Kid's Day at the Garden… How do you balance pushing players to improve while keeping the game fun for them?"
Joe Mazzulla delivers a great answer to a great question! 💯 pic.twitter.com/N9JVdjrQz6
— NBA (@NBA) November 16, 2025
“Yeah, I struggle with that, to be honest with you. I think everyone has a different definition of fun, and you have to find one as a team,” Mazzulla said.
“I think fun’s a cop-out sometimes when things aren’t going well… I think you have to define what fun looks like as a team, and you have to go after that. That phrase can be a cop-out sometimes. So, as you get older, kid, don’t use it.”
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Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla gestures as he speaks with game officials against the Toronto Raptors. Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images
Mazzulla’s answer shows that his main goal is to improve and win; everything else is secondary. There’s something refreshingly honest about it, too; someone else would have given a standard answer about the importance of players having fun. This is the type of mentality that it takes to excel at the highest level.
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