Joe Mazzulla, Celtics rallying around quote from "The Town"

BOSTON -- In the middle of his first season as head coach of the Boston Celtics, Joe Mazzulla revealed that he likes the movie "The Town." He really likes the movie "The Town," actually.

Mazzulla apparently watches the 2010 movie four times a week, and his reasoning is quite simple.

"I mean, it's just a mindset. A Boston mindset," Mazzulla explained back in January regarding his fascination with the film.

It wasn't altogether surprising, then, to see a quote from "The Town" pasted across Mazzulla's chest when he spoke to the media on Sunday after the Celtics beat the 76ers in Game 7 to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.

The quote -- "Whose car we gonna take?" -- comes from Jeremy Renner's character, Jem, who is propositioned to engage in some legally adjacent behavior by Ben Affleck's character. Without asking for details or specifics, Renner's character has just one question: How are we getting there?

Apparently, Mazzulla's love for the movie has spread throughout the team, as Malcolm Brogdon revealed that "Whose car we gonna take?" has become a rallying cry of sorts for the Celtics as they navigate their way through the postseason.

"It's something we've talked about, it's definitely something we've talked about," Brogdon told NESN.com's Sean T. McGuire. "It's basically just ride or die for your guys, the guys you're on the court with, the guys you're competing with. It's having the mentality [of] it doesn't matter what we're going to get into, we're going to do it together."

On the one hand -- and this right here is what they call a SPOILER, for anyone who hasn't seen the 13-year-old movie -- there is the uncomfortable fact that things ended poorly for Renner's character. Very poorly. So the Celtics and Mazzulla will want to do some careful planning before diving headfirst into whatever it is they might end up doing in this series against the Heat and, possibly, beyond.

Yet the mantra is a fitting theme, as Mazzulla has stressed the need for connectivity and togetherness from his players all playoffs long. It may be an unconventional origin for a team motto, but Mazzulla certainly isn't a conventional coach.