Joe Mazzulla’s victory tour continued on Tuesday morning when he was welcomed by Gov. Dan McKee at the Rhode Island State House to be honored for leading the Boston Celtics to their 18th NBA Championship in June.
The Johnston native and Bishop Hendricken grad was the youngest coach since 1968 to win a title as the Celtics completed a five-game victory over the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals. It was the Celtics’ first championship since 2008.
Joining Mazzulla and McKee in Providence were members of the Mazzulla family, Celtics owner Steve Pagliuca, as well as other state reps and fans that made the trip. Of course, Mazzulla brought the Larry O’Brien Trophy along for the ride as well, where fans had the chance to take photos with the historic piece of hardware.
“People don’t really understand what goes into organizational leadership and organizational alignment, and I think the Boston Celtics are one of the best organizations in the world. Everyone’s on the same page,” said Mazzulla as he credited the Celtics’ front office staff for its guidance over the years.
Mazzulla went on to thank those in the Ocean State that also helped him find success on and off the court.
“I left Rhode Island as a very young 17 year old, and I think when you leave that early, you don’t realize the relationships that you build and the impact you may have on the people you have met. When I left, I didn’t realize the identity I had in the state,” said Mazzulla. “One of the greatest gifts that God has given me is being able to come back to where I’m from, redeveloping those relationships, having an understanding. I’ve reconnected with so many people and those memories come back up. I realize how many people went into making sure I got to where I am today.”
“When you talk about developing teams and creating a synergy that works, I don’t know of anybody that has done it better than Joe Mazzulla. The framework that you need to have to make it work is something that takes time, and Coach Mazzulla did as well a job as anyone that I had ever seen in coaching,” said McKee.
Pagliuca was proud to see one of the Celtics’ homegrown coaches leading them to a championship and highlighted Mazzulla’s charitable work with the club as well.
“We’re very proud of Joe for coming through our system and taking over the team very rapidly. He’s a great person, the club has really benefitted by his wisdom, his caring for the players, his interactions with the fans, all the community work with the Boston Celtics Shamrock Foundation. Joe and the team has given it everything we have,” Pagliuca said.
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