The undrafted player defeated the current No. 1 pick to win the championship. In the long history of the NBA, this kind of thing must have happened more than once. But what if this undrafted player wins the championship as a coach?
In the 2011 draft, Duke University's Irving only played 11 games before locking in the No. 1 pick. Despite a limited game sample due to injury, Irving's creative talent allowed him to defeat all his opponents in the class, including Mazzula.
Mazura is nearly four years older than Irving. Compared to Irving who only played 11 games before entering the draft, he played in college for five full years. His original junior season was ended early due to injury, so he applied to delay graduation for one year, and he officially started his third college season as a senior.
This year, Mazzula became the captain and core player. In March Madness, he eliminated Kentucky led by John Wall, the 2010 No. 1 pick. In that game, Mazzula scored 17 points, 3 assists and 2 steals, personally ending Wall's college career.
Mazzula led West Virginia University to the final four of the Crazy Three Tournament. The last time West Virginia University reached the Final Four was back in 1959. The man who led them to the Final Four was named Jerry West.
In the end, Majora's West Virginia University was eliminated by the powerful Duke in the semifinals, and Duke defeated Butler University in the finals to win the championship. That was the first time in the history of Butler University, an unknown school, that the team entered the Crazy Three Finals. Their head coach that year was named Stevens.
The next year, which was his "Big Five" season, Mazzula did not reach the top three, and they were eliminated by Marquette University, where Butler was located. Twelve years later, Butler eliminated Majora again in the Eastern Conference Finals.
In 2011, Mazzula ran for election and lost. There was no suspense, and he himself didn’t have much hope. Instead of continuing to struggle in training camp and summer league like other undrafted players, he became a college assistant coach a few months later.
In this year's playoffs, Mazzula said of his coaching job: "I became a coach because I'm really not good at other things." In the 2016-17 season, Mazzura came to the Development League and became the Celtics Assistant coach of the affiliated team.
Not long after, in March 2017, Mazzula received an offer from Fairmont State University and became the head basketball coach of a university at the age of 29. That job didn't last long, either, as Mazzula received a better offer for him as Stevens' assistant.
Mazzula joined the Celtics coaching staff in 2019, and his previous experience working in a Celtics affiliate played a major role. Stevens had a keen eye, and this move changed Majora's career. Of course, the event that really changed Majora's life was yet to come.
Stevens was promoted to the management in 2021, Uduka took over, and Mazzula remained on the Celtics coaching staff. A year later, the promising Uduka wasted his time and blew up his future with the Celtics. Mazzula successfully took over and took over the team that had just reached the Finals a few months ago.
In February 2023, the Celtics officially announced that Mazzula would become the team's head coach. Leading the team to the Eastern Conference Finals in the first year, such a record is justified, but the poor on-the-spot command in the first three games of the Eastern Conference Finals still put Mazzula under tremendous pressure.
What he inherited was a "full-level number". A record like reaching the conference finals is far from satisfying the picky Celtics fans, although some have not yet entered a conference finals. Fans questioned Mazzula's always slow adjustment and that the team as a whole relied too much on three-point shooting.
Stevens once again stood up and gave this disciple absolute power. The coaching staff during Majora's period was completely cleared, and Majora truly formed a coaching team of his own. Then he led the team through the regular season, finishing first in the league with 64 wins and 18 losses.
In the playoffs, a stage that truly tests coaches, Mazzula posted a 16-3 record.His five-out lineup is dazzling, his defensive system is ever-changing, he gets everyone involved, everyone touches the ball, and the ball moves smoothly.
Space and three-pointers are the philosophy of Mazzula's coaching. The Celtics have always been questioned for shooting too many three-pointers, but the championship always eliminates all doubts. In the five games of the Finals, the Celtics scored 22 more three-pointers than the Mavericks.
Mazzula said: "Any time you want to develop a new philosophy or a new style, it takes time to understand and implement it." Of course, if the Celtics can only shoot three-pointers, they will never touch the third 18 crown trophies.
Mazzula added a lot of low-post singles to the offensive system. He made Holiday forget his previous role and began to rush for rebounds and lurk in the penalty area. He made Tatum willing to do hard work. He unswervingly let White is the starting point guard, and White said he would do anything for Mazzula.
At 35 years and 353 days, Mazzula became the youngest championship coach in history after Russell. He is even two years younger than Horford. Before winning the championship, Mazzula first won the trust of the players. This is the foundation of everything.
This group of young people from the Celtics and the equally young Mazzula have been questioned along the way, experienced failures together, and started all over again until they reached the top.
