Why didn't Joe Mazzulla call timeout before Celtics' final Game 2 play? Here's his answer.

[ASFN Admin]

It's one of the many questions that Boston Celtics fans have after the New York Knicks took down their favorite team in Game 2 (besides "when is Paul Pierce walking to work in his robe?").

Why didn't head coach Joe Mazzulla call a timeout to advance the ball for a better final play instead of letting Jayson Tatum try another drive to the paint, which resulted in a dunk the last time down the floor?

The result this time was another Mikal Bridges defensive play to seal the Knicks win.

Mazzulla's answer? It sort of had to do with Jalen Brunson:

Coach Mazzulla explains why he didn't call a timeout with 12 seconds left in Game 2 pic.twitter.com/S0Ka02ohxM

— NBA TV (@NBATV) May 8, 2025

[We] tried to execute the exact same thing. They did a better job of their lower pick-up point and we weren't able to get the advantage that we had on the last Tatum dunk, so good full-court setting, they subbed out [Karl-Anthony] Towns, weren't able to sub out Brunson. Had action there, [they] just didn't execute."

Oof.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: Joe Mazzulla on no timeout before Celtics Game 2 final play vs. Knicks

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