Why Celtics’ Joe Mazzula ‘has no fear’ after OT loss to Hawks

BOSTON — The The Boston Celtics had one of the most consistent regular seasons in franchise history en route to its 18th title. The road to repeat as champions it was not so smoothand that was evident on Saturday night when the C’s lost in overtime to the team Atlanta Hawks119-115.

Although the Celtics had a chance to win back-to-back contests for the first time in more than two weeks, they squandered a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter and were unable to close out the game in the final minute. The C’s are now 5-4 in 2025 and 3-4 in their last seven games. Despite these struggles, the Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla accepted his team’s recent slump and emphasized that this is all part of the journey.

“No fear, no fear,” he declared after the disappointing defeat. “I’m actually more excited at this point in the season than I was at the beginning.”

With just 20.1 seconds left in the game, Boston held the ball and took a three-point lead. However, while playing, stay away to run the clock, the Celtics guard Jrue Holiday threw a stray pass to a star teammate Jailen Brown it was barely out of bounds.

On the next possession, Holiday intentionally fouled the Hawks star Trae Young and pushed the C’s over the line, giving Atlanta a pair of free throws—but not a chance to tie the game with a 3-pointer. The Hawks continued to fight for free throws by intentionally fouling Jayson Tatumand yet he missed his second chance at the charity stripe.

“It just goes to show that it’s hard to win in the NBA every night.” It’s tough,” Tatum said when asked about Boston’s current predicament. “You have to bring it every night.”

Things got worse for Boston on the next play, as Holiday fouled Young at the basket with just four seconds left in the fourth quarter. Young made the Celtics pay for their questionable late-game performance with two more free throws, enough to send the game into overtime after Tatum’s missed jumper at the other end.

What went wrong for the Celtics in overtime?

In overtime, the Hawks outscored the Celtics 15-11 and got much-needed offensive rebounds throughout. In fact, the last offensive board effectively ended the game. Up 116-115 with 12.5 seconds left, Hawks forward Jaylen Johnson made two free throws to keep Boston alive. The hope of the Celtics did not last long, however, because Big Hawks and Onieka Okongwu collected his second foul and drained his two free throws after being immediately fouled.

While this collapse upset the TD Garden crowd, Mazzulla argued that these issues make NBA competition fun.

“This is part of it. That’s the fun part,” he said. “We talk about what we’ve been able to achieve as a team in the past, and if we’re going to be on a journey together for however long it is, two years, whatever the case may be, here’s what you sign up for.” This is the most fun part you have to have. And as long as we’re at it, that’s how we’ll attack him.”

The C’s took 11 more shots than the Hawks, but shot a memorable 38.8% from the field and 28.8% from deep. In contrast, Atlanta shot 47.3% from the floor and an impressive 62.5% from inside the arc. Those numbers aren’t necessarily enough to concern the Celtics, especially given their 11-1 record in postseason games.

“There is no fear,” Macula repeated. “If anything, there is excitement. And this is a journey. So sign me up for this.”

The next leg of the Celtics’ road trip will take them west. They will play four road games in five days against Western Conference teams, all with winning results. Getting back on the road will be tough, however, Mazzulla is clearly unfazed, and wants his team to have the same fearless attitude at all times.