"We attack seals" - Jaylen Brown describes Celtics offense citing Joe Mazulla's unique "killer whales" philosophy
Jaylen Brown is fresh off his most dominant postseason run yet as he added another championship banner to the rafters for the Boston Celtics franchise. The team was expertly coached by Joe Mazzulla, which Brown highlighted in his interview on First We Feast's "Hot Ones."
He highlighted how Mazzulla instilled "The Killer Whale Offense," which helped transform them into an imposing ball club last season.
Mazzulla was successful in maximizing the strengths of the Celtics' roster to reach two-way brilliance that not many teams are capable of achieving. Aside from their production on the court, he was able to strengthen the team's competitive spirit and tough-minded brand of basketball to have an edge over their opponents.
"One of the things he's coined, we call it like our offense or like 'The Killer Whale Offense,'" Brown said. "We attack seals because killer whales, like, how they hunt seals. And we study like how killer whales attack as a unit and we built our offense kind of like off of killer whales."
"So, Joe definitely has like a bunch of crazy stuff but there's a method to his madness and obviously, it works."
In the process, Mazzulla helped strengthen the team's chemistry and fit on the court by buying into a singular and focused game-per-game mindset.
During the NBA playoffs, Brown put up 23.9 points (51.6% shooting, including 32.7% from beyond the arc), 5.9 rebounds, and 3.3 assists.
Jaylen Brown described Celtics coach as "a psycho in a good way"
Not many basketball fans would understand what makes Joe Mazzulla's tactics effective with the Boston Celtics. However, 2024 NBA Finals MVP Jaylen Brown described his coach as a "psycho" who yields successful results on the court for the entire ball club.
"Joe Mazzulla's a psycho in a good way," Jaylen Brown said. "It's probably one of the tougher training camps, first two days, that I've probably had in terms of intensity, conditioning level, physicality, defensive warrior mentality. So I think it'll be good for us."
"Now, we're just working on building great habits, breaking habits from just being off in the summer, and working on trying to play great Celtic basketball."
It has always been a challenge for any basketball coach to win a team's locker room and to be dedicated to his vision for their success. After a disappointing finish in the 2023 postseason, Mazzulla came back more equipped and prepared for his second season with the team.
There was an incredible level of pressure directed at him and his ability to secure banner No. 18 for the historic NBA franchise. He was entrusted with the head coach position a week before the start of 2022-23 training camp after the departure of former coach Ime Udoka.
It was a risky move to make an assistant coach the head coach of a team with title aspirations, not to mention they were also being led by two elite stars in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. After only losing three games in the 2024 playoffs, that risky decision made by the front office has paid off well.