Celtics

How Joe Mazzulla used meniscus tear, ‘The Dark Knight’ to fuel Celtics’ championship run

"I had to constantly train, get physical therapy, and it was just awesome."

By Conor Ryan

June 20, 2024

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Joe Mazzulla is cut from a different cloth when compared to most NBA coaches. 

Be it his off-the-cuff one-liners delivered during postgame press conferences, locked-in mindset, commitment to jiu-jitsu training, and affinity for “The Town,” the Celtics’ head coach has already established himself as one of the more fascinating personalities in Boston sports.

And just days after helping coach Boston to its sought-after 18th championship, Mazzulla once again made headlines during his latest appearance on “Pardon My Take” — praising the Batman film, “The Dark Knight” while offering up an interesting take on the benefits of a torn meniscus that he’s been laboring through since March. 

Mazzulla explained that he suffered the knee injury while blowing off some steam after a regular-season loss to the Atlanta Hawks in March — landing on the shelf after an active jiu-jitsu session. 

But in typical Mazzulla fashion, he labeled the unexpected injury — just weeks before Boston’s playoff run – as a “great experience”.

“That’s what happens when you lose games in the regular season. After we lost to Atlanta, I went on the mats and punished myself and pounded my body until I couldn’t take anymore, and ended up tearing up my knee,” Mazzulla explained. “It was a great experience for me, I had to do six hours of treatment to coach the next game without too much of a limp. I couldn’t walk.”

While Mazzulla will need to undergo offseason surgery to full correct the issues in his knee, he stressed that the physical therapy he had to undergo in the midst of the playoffs allowed him to stay focused at all times. 

“It put me in this fight or flight mentality because I couldn’t relax. I had to constantly train, get physical therapy, and it was just awesome. I was thinking about maybe getting hurt every All-Star break,” Mazzulla said. “It brought a different level of focus that I had to have. I had to walk slower, I couldn’t move certain ways. So it forced me to focus more and I’m grateful that it happened. I miss the mats though.”

As for “The Dark Knight”, Mazzulla said that both he and Celtics star Jayson Tatum watched clips from the film in order to better understand how to deal with pressure.

With Tatum, Jaylen Brown and several other Celtics no strangers to criticism both this season and during previous playoff runs, Mazzulla opted to watch the scene from the Christopher Nolan blockbuster where Batman interrogates the Joker at the police station. 

“So when we were working on ok, this is how we’re going to handle expectations, pressure,” Mazzulla said. “This is what we need to do. So we’re watching the scene where Batman goes into the interrogation room with Joker and they’re talking and Batman’s like ‘Why do you want to kill me? And like the Joker starts laughing. 

“He’s like, ‘I don’t want to kill you. He’s like, I need you. You complete me.’ And it was like the coolest moment. Like good and evil has to coexist. Differences have to coexist in order to bring the best out of each other and the people around you. So like, Dark Knight, great movie.”

One would think that Mazzulla would have instead showcased Doug MacRay and his gang’s heist at Fenway Park to hammer home the value of teamwork, but it’s hard to argue with the film choice — especially given the end result of Tatum hoisting the Larry O’Brien Trophy.