Celtics’ Joe Mazzulla wants to bring fighting, power plays to NBA
The Celtics head coach has interesting rule change ideas for the NBA.
The Boston Celtics improved their record to 4-0 on Monday with a 119-108 win over the Milwaukee Bucks. Head coach Joe Mazzulla has the Celtics playing sharp. And after each game, it appears that a different Celtics player has been grabbing the spotlight.
For the moment, it has been Payton Pritchard, following a 28-point performance off the bench against Milwaukee. The fifth-year guard has played superb for Boston in his role carried over from their NBA championship season, averaging 16.3 points on 48.8 percent shooting, and 50 percent from downtown.
Mazzulla is not only bringing great leadership to the Celtics this season, but he’s offering creative ideas for the NBA. There’s no question the league has made significant changes over the years that have made the game more appealing to viewers. But Mazzulla believes that there is always room for improvement, and there are particular parts that should be brought back.
In his second full season as Celtics head coach, Mazzulla dished on possible rule changes for the NBA to consider. Mazzulla answered questions about his potential proposals via phone interview on Zolak & Bertrand of 98.5 The Sports Hub.
“Basketball is one of the only sports that doesn’t have a power play,” Mazzulla said, per NBC Sports Boston. “There should be a power play on a take foul on a technical, where you have to play five on four for five seconds, or three passes.
“I think we should institute power plays, where instead of taking the ball out on the side if you commit a foul, then the guy goes to the other side of half court, and he can’t leave the half court circle for three seconds.”
Celtics’ Joe Mazzulla says the NBA should bring back fighting
Paul Rutherford-Imagn Images
In the modern NBA, the fighting and heated moments during games have certainly been assuaged by league officials. However, Mazzulla believes that it’s been unfair to the fans.
“The biggest thing that we rob people of from an entertainment standpoint, is you can’t fight anymore,” Mazzulla continued. “You wanna talk about robbing the league of entertainment, what’s more entertaining than a little scuffle?”
Mazzulla also brought up comparisons to sports hockey and baseball, and how fighting and confrontations like “cleared benches” are deemed allowable.
Whether or not these rule changes will ever happen can be left for speculation. But one thing’s for certain. The current rules in place have the Celtics on the fast track to another successful campaign.
