Joe Mazzulla has been a mastermind this season, pressing all the right buttons and positioning himself as a top contender for Coach of the Year. He’s crystal clear on his goals and has the entire Boston Celtics roster locked in, rowing in the same direction toward success.
But even the best coaches aren’t infallible. Mazzulla himself owned up to a blunder after the Celtics dug themselves into a 22-point hole against the Miami Heat before staging a dramatic comeback. “I kind of put the guys in a tough spot to start the game, just processing all the what-if scenarios,” he admitted. “We were just kind of bogged down by those things… Once we simplified it and adjusted as the game progressed, the guys handled it much better.”
Shockingly, he may have repeated history against the Denver Nuggets, squandering a golden chance to snatch a victory from a sputtering Nikola Jokic and an under-the-weather Jamal Murray. It’s almost hard to believe, but the evidence is glaring.
The game started with both teams ice-cold from the field, yet the Celtics scraped together a halftime lead. The third quarter was a seesaw battle until the final two minutes, when Denver erupted on a momentum-shifting run that flipped the script.
Boston’s shots were clanking off the rim, and their energy was sapped—clearly feeling the toll of their third game in four nights. As the Nuggets surged, the Celtics desperately needed a jolt. Enter Luka Garza: the ultimate high-octane energizer bunny, a screen-setting beast, and an offensive rebounding powerhouse. If ever there was a “break glass in case of emergency” moment, this was it. Garza thrives in injecting life when shots aren’t falling and legs are leaden.
Sure, unleashing Garza against Jokic could have been like dangling fresh bait in front of a starving predator—defensively risky, to say the least. But with Boston’s offense in freefall, missing a staggering 54 shots and posting a dismal 23.2% offensive rebounding rate (a whopping 11.5% below their season average), they needed that spark. Garza’s individual offensive rebounding percentage sits at 13.2%, tops on the team and 25th league-wide. That alone could have turned the tide.
Even more compelling? Garza ranks 26th in the NBA for points generated off screen assists (5.8 per game). On a night when Boston couldn’t buy a bucket, his ability to create space for shooters would have been invaluable.
The third quarter screamed for his insertion. With 7:55 left, Neemias Queta drew a foul from Jokic, putting the Celtics in the bonus and earning two free throws. Yet, astonishingly, Boston didn’t attempt another bonus free throw for the rest of the period. Denver gifted them a license to attack the rim aggressively, but the Celtics let it slip away. Imagine Garza out there, bulldozing screens to spring Jaylen Brown or Derrick White downhill—that could have drawn more fouls, gotten them to the line, and shattered the shooting slump with some easy points.
Of course, we’ll never know for sure what might have unfolded if Garza had seen the floor. It could have backfired spectacularly. But with the alternative being a lackluster performance from Vucevic—who offered little in the way of impact—and Garza riding the bench with fresh legs from limited playtime, it feels like a colossal oversight.
Garza logging DNP-CD (Did Not Play – Coach’s Decision) isn’t shocking; the writing was on the wall after the Celtics’ trade for Vucevic, which bumped him down the depth chart. Still, on a night when Boston looked flat and frozen, passing up the chance to deploy this relentless, hard-nosed rebounder? Unbelievable, but true—it’s a missed opportunity that could haunt Mazzulla in hindsight.