Maybe Joe Mazzulla just wanted a laugh.
Maybe he wanted to embarrass us as punishment for asking the same annoying postgame questions for the last three years.
Maybe he wanted to provide some post-practice entertainment for the large group of players — including Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown — who were watching from the lounge that overlooks the Auerbach Center’s two courts.
Whatever his reason, Mazzulla chose to put his own diabolical spin on the Celtics’ preseason media game Tuesday afternoon. Rather than dividing the participating media members into teams and having them play against each other — as the C’s and other Boston pro teams have done in the past — Mazzulla turned the scrimmage into a showdown between the Celtics media corps and the Celtics coaching staff.
“I don’t want to break it to you, but you’re not playing against each other,” the head coach revealed, about 90 minutes before tipoff, as he wrapped up an otherwise unremarkable courtside news conference. “You’re playing against the coaches.”
Those coaches included Mazzulla, the former starting point guard on a West Virginia team that reached the Final Four. And Da’Sean Butler, his teammate on that Mountaineers squad. And Amile Jefferson, who played with Tatum at Duke and later spent time with the Orlando Magic. And ex-Celtics guard Phil Pressey. And DJ MacLeay, who played 110 games at Bucknell and stands 6-foot-7. And Tony Dobbins, who had a long career overseas after playing at Virginia Tech and Richmond. And God Shammgod Jr., who’s less than a decade removed from a standout career at Fairmont State.
All of those guys are in their mid-40s or younger. Most are in their 30s, including 37-year-old Mazzulla, the NBA’s youngest active head coach. If you put the Celtics’ staff up against any of its counterparts around the league, I’d like its chances in a pickup game.
On talent, experience and athleticism alone, that group could have sleepwalked its way to victory over a media side that … well, lacked all three of those things. But they didn’t take it easy on the folks who are paid to write and talk about basketball, not play it. (Unfortunately, there were no players-turned-analysts, a la Brian Scalabrine or Eddie House, on hand to level the playing field a bit.)
At Mazzulla’s constant urging, the coaches played with unrelenting intensity, especially on the defensive end. They pressed full-court for the entire game. They trapped. Mazzulla yelled out calls, scrapped for rebounds and celebrated turnovers — and there were so, so many turnovers.
Most of Team Media’s “possessions” lasted about three seconds. How many legitimate scoring chances were there? Maybe 10, tops. Even fewer shots that came remotely close to finding the net. The number of made baskets by media members was easier to recall: a grand total of two. There was a transition layup by Bobby Krivitsky of Hardwood Houdini and a putback by Boston.com’s Khari Thompson. That was all.
If nothing else, it was an extraordinarily up-close look at the hyper-aggressive practice tempo the Celtics have been hyping up since the start of training camp. Thankfully, no reporters came away with Payton Pritchard-esque neck wounds.
At the other end, Mazzulla and his lieutenants easily found mismatches down low and wide-open looks from three without needing to run any sort of offensive system. Shammgod was especially lethal from outside, draining back-to-back 3-pointers at one point that made it 28-0 less than six minutes in. Pressey also buried a few. The 6-foot-9 Jefferson threw down multiple dunks. Mazzulla kept pushing, pushing, pushing.
The lead reached 35 points. Then 40. Then 50.
Finally, against a thoroughly gassed media defense, Shammgod received a pass just inside halfcourt and launched a high-arcing logo three that swished through as time expired.
Celtics team reporter Taylor Snow captured a video of that game-ending buzzer-beater, followed by a slow pan over to the scoreboard. The final score: Coaches 57, Media 4. In a game that, mercifully, only lasted 12 minutes.
It was that bad, and honestly, it could have been worse.
Celtics Coaches vs. Celtics Media
(wait for the final score) pic.twitter.com/q5SeqH0jVu
— Taylor Snow (@taylorcsnow) October 14, 2025
If public ridicule was Mazzulla’s goal, he got his wish. As of early Wednesday morning, that video had been viewed more than 3.5 million times on X.
The Celtics’ players seemed to enjoy themselves, too. As the reporters gathered for a postgame huddle, a smiling Brown called down from above, asking which of us “want(ed) to do media” — player-speak for who would volunteer to come to the podium and answer questions about our abysmal performance. Fortunately, no such press conference occurred.
After the 57-4 beatdown, the Celtics held a legitimate, reporters-vs.-reporters media game (both were sponsored by the Jr. Celtics Academy), and Mazzulla watched the whole thing from the sideline, shouting occasional commentary and tweaking the clock late to engineer a more exciting ending. That matchup was far more competitive, with Team White edging Team Green 25-22.
Let’s skip the undercard next year.
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