MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (May 7, 2024) – Joe Mazzulla and the Boston Celtics continue their playoff run in the second round of the NBA playoffs at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday. They will take on the Cleveland Cavaliers, a team the Celtics beat two of the three times the squads faced off this season.
For Mazzulla, winning this series would put him back in his second Eastern Conference Finals in as many years as Head Coach. No team in the East has reached the Conference Finals in three straight years since the Cavaliers with Lebron did it from 2015-2018.
The Celtics were the only team in the NBA this season to reach 60+ wins and finished with a record of 64-18. They looked every bit like the title favorites in the first round when they beat the Miami Heat in 5 games, winning their four games by an average score of 19.5 points.
In the three games against the Cavaliers this season, Mazzulla coached the Celtics to two wins at home and a loss in Cleveland. This will be the first time the two teams have met in the playoffs since Lebron James and the Cavs won game seven in 2018.
Mazzulla will have to overcome the loss of his C Kristaps Porzingis who suffered a right calf strain in game 4 against the Heat. The 7’2″ center was averaging just over 12 points and 5 rebounds in the series before suffering his injury. He is expected to miss most, if not all, of round two.
At 34 years old, Mazzulla has the chance to become the youngest coach to ever win an NBA Championship. Mazzulla played for WVU under both John Beilein and Bob Huggins from 2007-2011 and was the starting point guard in the program’s most recent Final Four game in 2010. He was also apart of the 2007 team that won WVU’s second NIT tournament.
The winner of this series will play the winner of the Knicks and Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals.
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