On Wednesday’s edition of Zolak & Bertrand, Celtics Head Coach Joe Mazzulla explained how he’s got the Celtics to buy-in defensively.

• It started long before Mazzulla

  Marc Bertrand: The win the other night. Obviously, a lot of discussion about your locker room speech and about the focus on defense and my question for you is sort of a broad one. How do you get players the way your players have bought in defensively, in this day and age in the NBA, because it’s becoming more and more rare but this team sort of gets that.

  Joe Mazzulla: Yeah, I mean, it’s not just this team this year. I think one of the staples of the Celtics over the last, you know since I’ve been here, the last four years and before it was we were always one of the top defenses in the league and the players bought into defense. So, I think it’s more of a testament to who they are. They know it’s important to win, if you want to get to where you want to get to and you know, individually our guys like to play defense and as a team we do too. So, you know, it’s just more about them. They want to do it.

• Listen to the full interview!

• Mazzulla was very happy when asked about the defense

  "No one has asked about that, I'm shocked!" 😂
  
  Joe Mazzulla on the media not mentioning the Celtics' recent defensive improvements pic.twitter.com/mEIQeI9aDN

  — Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) November 4, 2022

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