Mazzulla took live calls about the Celtics on 98.5 The Sports Hub

When Joe Mazzulla typically appears on 98.5 The Sports Hub, he’s interviewed by the station’s mid-day hosts, Scott Zolak and Marc Bertrand.

On Thursday, Mazzulla decided to switch things up and take live calls from fans.

“We’ve got to give the people what they want,” Mazzulla said. “We’ve got to connect with those people more, so open up the phone lines.

The hosts should be careful as they brought this idea to life, Zolak said. Mazzulla wanted nothing of the sort.

“I think it’s the opposite. I don’t think we have to be careful at all,” Mazzulla said. “I think it’s the opposite.”

Mazzulla’s first fan response was to an emailer, who said his biggest issue with Zolak and Bertrand’s show is that Mazzulla isn’t asked enough hard questions when he comes on.

“We’re going to rectify that,” Mazzulla said.

One caller told Mazzulla that the way the coach answered questions at press conferences during the early days of his time as Celtics head coach made him unlikeable.

“First, I’ll apologize for being a product of my environment,” Mazzulla said. “We’re all from New England. We all grew up being short and being relatively a-holes. I’ve got to step away from my environment, but I think you make a good point.”

“My relationship with the media has grown over the years and I think you’re right – it’s a conduit between where I am and where you guys are. As a fan, I think it’s important to know that when I’m up there, and I’ve obviously kind of learned on how to approach it differently, but at the end of the day when I’m answering a question I may not be looking to answer it from a fans perspective. I may be talking to our team, or an opponent, or I may be deflecting, or I may be trying to throw an opponent off.”

The same caller also asked why the Celtics’ offense isn’t more creative in clutch situations. Jayson Tatum “just gets the ball and pounds it into the ground,” the caller said. Why aren’t there better plays drawn up?

“End of quarters, as long as we get the two-for-one,” Mazzulla said. “We missed it last night. If you were watching the game we didn’t end the quarter with a two-for-one and we ended up with the possession on defense. So, there’s two things there – one we’ve got to get the possession on the two-for-one on the offensive end and we have to trust our process and our players to get the best shot possible.”

Another caller asked if the Celtics will be a better team without Jaylen Brown.

“The answer is different,” Mazzulla said. “I don’t think it’s about better or worse, it’s about different. It’s about two things – we’ve talked about it a bunch during the offseason. One. just the gratitude of people who made the Celtics better than they found it from a community standpoint, from a competitive standpoint.”

“Obviously, his career as a Celtic will go down in history and now we’re in a situation where we’re looking to create that for the current team that we have now … it’s never a question of better or worse, it’s always a question of different and taking advantage of the strengths that you have.”

The Celtics led the league by a wide margin in 3-point attempts per game (46.1) during the playoffs last season, despite losing in the first round to Philadelphia.

Would Mazzulla be willing to change his strategy?

“I think it all depends on the matchup and who you’re playing against in whatever round that you’re in,” Mazzulla said. “A lot of that goes back to the shot selection standpoint of the defenses and the coverages and the matchup that you’re playing against.”

“One thing we did to work to change that last year was the offensive rebounding. We got really good at that. I thought in the series last year, Philly was really good at taking those away. Our crashing was really good, but we didn’t get the rebounds to get more shots. So, it’s a combination of all of it.”

Khari A. Thompson

Sports Reporter

Khari Thompson covers professional sports for Boston.com. Before joining the team in 2022, Khari covered college football for The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Miss.