For 2 Celtics, Thursday night was extra special

CLEVELAND — Celtics assistant coach DJ MacLeay typically stands on the sidelines and barks out commands. MacLeay, who began as a player-enhancement coach with the Celtics in 2021, leads the team’s defense and is often one of the loudest voices during games.

But on Thursday night, for the first time in his career, he served as the Celtics’ head coach — at least for the second half.

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Joe Mazzulla revealed at shootaround that he wouldn’t be coaching the Celtics’ preseason opener against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Instead, assistant coach Tony Dobbins would coach the first half (and handle pregame media responsibilities), and MacLeay would coach the second half (and handle postgame media responsibilities).

“It was definitely different,” MacLeay said. “I got to be the head coach of the Boston Celtics for a half. Can’t feel anything but gratitude for that.”

Mazzulla decided both coaches would get the opportunity after they went through head-coaching interviews this past summer, Dobbins with the Dallas Mavericks and MacLeay with the Portland Trail Blazers. Neither got the job — Dobbins was a finalist — but Mazzulla wanted to acknowledge their progress by giving them additional preseason responsibilities.

“To me that’s a huge testament to them and the work that they do,” Mazzulla said. “And so, you’re just always looking for opportunities to give them more experience. And sometimes, the only experience is being out there on the sideline.”

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The Celtics head coach wanted to give his assistants time to mentally prepare, so he gave them a heads-up.

“In classic Joe fashion, he told us this way back in the summer, so I’ve had some time to think about this,” MacLeay said.

For MacLeay, serving as a head coach for a half gave him the opportunity to hone in on the key messages the team has been emphasizing throughout training camp.

“The biggest thing is working on the stuff that we’ve been trying to build — connection with the group, connection to how we want to play, understanding different turning points, different moments within the game, and I thought for the most part the guys really were…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/2-celtics-thursday-night-extra-170414231.html

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Publish date : 2026-10-09 17:04:00

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