Marcus Smart gives blunt assessment of Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla's work

BOSTON -- Marcus Smart was an unquestioned leader of the Celtics in their Game 6 win on Thursday night in Philadelphia, helping to keep Boston's season alive.

Of course, the situation would have never gotten so dire if the Celtics had finished off a Game 4 win in the same building last weekend. The Celtics' failure to score at the end of regulation and the end of overtime led to a lot of consternation in Boston, with much of it focused on first-year head coach Joe Mazzulla.

On Thursday night, after the Celtics pulled off a 95-86 road victory, Smart was asked a question about his feelings on Robert Williams entering the starting lineup. That led to Smart using that as a moment to offer up some honest commentary on the work and criticism of Mazzulla.

"That just goes to show Joe is learning, just like all of us. I know he's been killed a lot -- rightfully so. You know, he needs to make some adjustments. And he did that," Smart bluntly stated. "And that's all you can ask for -- just continue to be the best he can be. And it takes everybody, it's a full team effort." 

With reporters sensing an interesting topic, the next question focused on what it's been like for the players to help navigate the head coach through the season and postseason.

"It's different. But it helps us as players," Smart answered. "Because when you think about it in the grand scheme, we're teaching him as well, and we're teaching ourselves. We get to learn more about ourselves. It allows Jayson [Tatum], it allows Jaylen [Brown], it allows me to be more vocal on the court and to go figure things out, and we're doing it together. It's not going to be perfect; Joe's not perfect. He was put in a very tough situation this year, and he's doing the best he can. And that's all we can ask for. We're gonna continue to go out there and work our tails off for him, just like he's gonna go out there and continue to work his tail off for us."

Smart was later asked a question specifically about how much criticism Mazzulla received for not calling timeouts at the end of regulation or overtime in Game 4.

"Yeah I mean, it's hard," Smart said. "But the team that we have, the group of guys that we have, we're experienced. And we're the ones on the court. Joe can only do so much. Joe does a great job, his staff does a great job of putting us in the right position. We just gotta go out there and execute. I know he takes a lot of the rap from us, but he's not on the court. So we're on the court and we have to be able to adjust, even if he's not doing it to the standard that we want or everybody wants. We see what's going on and we have to help him."

It's not the typical kind of commentary you'll hear from an NBA player regarding his head coach in the midst of a potential championship run. But it goes to show that the Celtics just are not having a typical season or postseason.