The 2025-26 season was a weird one for the Boston Celtics.
After their fire sale last summer that saw the departures of Kristaps Porzingis, Jrue Holiday, Al Horford, and Luke Kornet (on top of Jayson Tatum's Achilles injury he suffered in the second round of the playoffs against the New York Knicks), most expected Boston to be a Play-In team at best. However, the team finished with a 56-26 record (just a five-game dropoff from the season before) and earned the No. 2 seed in the East...
...then they blew a 3-1 lead against the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of the playoffs this year and lost Game 7 on their home court.
Despite the disappointing end to the Celtics' season, fans should be happy about what the team accomplished. And Joe Mazzulla's latest achievement is further proof of that.
Joe Mazzulla's COTY award proves Celtics' season was a success
Mazzulla was named this year's NBA Coach of the Year (much to his chagrin, probably), and it really wasn't all that close (he received 62 first-place votes; Detroit Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff received the second-most with 29 such votes).
There is a fair debate to be had about whether he truly deserved the award over Bickerstaff, who led Detroit to its first No. 1 seed since the 2006-07 season, or Mitch Johnson, who led the San Antonio Spurs to a 62-20 record (a 28-game improvement from last season). Regardless, Mazzulla earning this award is just a testament to how good a season he and the Celtics had.
Everybody counted Boston out this season, and they weren't necessarily wrong to do so. The team's championship core was dismantled, nobody knew if Tatum would come back this season (and, even if he did, nobody knew if he would return to form right away), and the rest of the East was looking to be on the way up.
Even so, the Celtics were one of the hottest teams in the league all season, getting it done in every area of the game (finished second in the NBA with a 120.8 ORTG, fourth with a 112.7 DRTG, and third with 46.4 RPG) and making it clear that this isn't Tatum's team or Brown's team-- it's Mazzulla's team.
Obviously, the Celtics' playoff loss can't be ignored, and a lot of changes are likely coming because of it. But at the same time, it doesn't tell the full story. Boston's season was mostly a success, all things considered, and Mazzulla played a big role in that.
Add us as a preferred source on Google