Please help me here! In 20-plus years in law enforcement, I have seen enough bizarre behavior from my officers and the public to fill a novel. So what is up with Joe Mazzula doing a somersault in front of Marcus Smart (per NESN's Adam London)?
According to The Boston Globe’s Adam Himmelsbach, Mazzulla walked past Marcus Smart in the Celtics locker room before the game, did a full somersault in front of the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, said “you can’t do that” and walked out. Smart made it clear to Himmelsbach that the theatrics weren’t an inside joke between him and his coach.
“We need to stop giving him sugar,” Smart told Himmelsbach.
The best chance here is that the act was simply a light, spontaneous moment by a rookie coach trying to lighten the pre-game tension. I obviously wasn't there to see the acrobatics or Smart's innocuous response, but the incident-as-described has bizarre aspects to it.
But right now, I will go with the incident being just spur-of-the-moment folly. Mazzulla has done wonders with his team since taking over following the Ime Udoka scandal. But most Celtics fans and analysts were enamored with Udoka-as-coach, not realizing that a "character flaw" would oust him from his position.
I had serious initial concerns about Joe Mazzulla's history from his college days and wrote about it. The Boston Celtics are on top of the world right now, and Joe has directed them there. I am asking for feedback from our readers on their takes on - what may seem on the surface - to be a totally innocuous and spontaneous tension-reliever.
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