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It all seemed so positive for Ime Udoka at the start of the 2022/23 NBA season. The man in charge of Boston Celtics was widely tipped to finish the campaign as the association’s most valuable coach, while his team aimed to regain their record for most championships.
Instead, off court allegations led to him getting suspended from his role. Boston decided to trust former assistant coach Joe Mazzulla to take over, first promoting him to interim coach, before officially signing him as their permanent head coach earlier this year.
It paid off as Mazzulla led the Celtics right back to the conference finals. He’s the perfect fit for Boston, not least because he grew up in the area. Mazzulla lives and breathes Boston. Want an example?
Remember Ben Affleck’s movie ‘The Town’? It’s as Boston as a movie gets, with its story about a gang of childhood friends and career criminals from Charlestown. It’s a great movie, and as I said, a Boston staple. I’ve seen it twice, maybe even three times… But that’s not even a weeks worth of airtime for Mazzulla, who reportedly watches the drama four times a week.
Per GQ:
As was first reported in January, Mazzulla screens the 2010 Ben Affleck crime drama The Town, which has a runtime of two hours and four minutes, four times a week. When asked how that relates to the Celtics, he said that it’s “just a Boston mindset.”
