Joe Mazzulla Sends Powerful Message After Celtics' Game 7 Loss to 76ers

The Boston Celtics were without Jayson Tatum in Game 7 against the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday night and it proved costly as they fell 109-100 to effectively end there season is quite shocking fashion after they held a 3-1 series lead.

This marked the first time in franchise history that Boston blew a 3-1 lead, but after the contest, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla provided a powerful message of reflection what dealing with failure when you’re consistently trying to chase greatness.

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"A lot of times in the world today, it’s an either-or society, but there’s a duality to everything,” Mazzulla said. “And the year we won, I felt just as empty as I did when we lost. The duality of going after something bigger than yourself with a group of people - There’s two sides to every coin. When you go after greatness, you have to accept the other side of that.

“Too many times it's all about winning… You have to surrender to the idea that when you're going after that, you're going to fail. We failed by not winning, but we stick to the process of being able to do that. That's just the duality of how things work. It's not an either-or thing. It's both and, you feel both of those things."

Mazzulla took over the job from Ime Udoka in 2022 and, in just his second season, led the Celtics to an NBA championship.

Over the past two seasons since, however, the results have been more uneven. Boston was eliminated in the second round last year by the New York Knicks, and now suffered a first-round exit at the hands of a 76ers team they had beaten in their previous three playoff series against.

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This story was originally published May 3, 2026 at 5:23 PM.