Mazzulla has unsurprising response after Malone’s firing in Denver

Celtics

“It’s just coaching. You sign up knowing that.”

For the second time in less than two weeks, a Western Conference team in the NBA playoff picture fired their head coach just ahead of the postseason.

Just over a week after the Memphis Grizzlies fired head coach Taylor Jenkins, the Nuggets made the call on Tuesday to fire head coach Michael Malone with just three games left on their regular-season docket.

Beyond the late timing of Malone’s dismissal, he is less than two years removed from coaching the Nuggets to a championship — and was holding court as Denver’s all-time winningest coach. 

As shocking as it was for Denver to hand Malone a pink slip at this juncture of the NBA calendar, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla was his candid self on Tuesday when asked ahead of Boston’s road game against the Knicks about Malone’s dismissal. 

“Coaching. It’s just coaching,” Mazzulla said. “You sign up knowing that. And again, I mean he was 10 years there? Yeah, that’s a lot. You hope for stuff like that. You hope for a situation of stability to be somewhere for as long as you have, and when it’s your time, it’s your time.

“But I think you focus more on the fact that he was able to be there for 10 years. Not many coaches get to do that. I think there’s only two left, three left now that have done it beyond that? Pop [Gregg Popovich], Spo [Erik Spoelstra], and [Steve] Kerr. So you hope for that, but you know that not everybody gets that opportunity.”

Considering that Mazzulla noted after the Bruins fired Jim Montgomery in November that “we all get hired to get fired,” it should come as little surprise that Mazzulla chalked up Malone’s exit as the nature of the business. 

While Mazzulla — like Malone — led his team to a championship less than a year ago, he added that he relishes the uncertain ground that most coaches in pro sports find themselves on these days.

“It’s part of what motivates me, but I wake up every day saying this is going to be my last day,” Mazzulla said. “You have to have that type of perspective because it gives you gratitude because it also keeps you hungry. So you just have to have a healthy balance of you want this for as long as you can.

“At the same time, you’re replaceable because that’s just how it works. So every day, I remind myself of my own mortality and I think that’s what kind of keeps me in a better perspective and a gratitude of the opportunity that you have.”

 

Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.