It's no secret that Bill Simmons hasn't approved of Boston coach Joe Mazzella's ways and ripped the second-year NBA coach after the C's got lucky in Game 1.
Simmons doesn't think Mazzula is well-prepared for Game 1 against Indiana, despite having more time to prepare.
“I'm still in a dark place even after winning well. I don't know if I trust the coach [Joe Mazzulla],” Simmons said on his self-titled podcast Bill Simmons a podcast. “I'll be honest, I don't know if I trust his ability to read the series or the game early, and it feels like by Game 4 they're going to be making some of these changes.”
The NBA analyst went on to explain that Pacers coach Rick Carlisle had a better game plan than his opponent and knew how to exploit Boston.
“[Rick] Carlisle just made this team look forward to Game 1, Simmons said. “He knew like three things. I'm going to put Siakam on the foul line, when they put their bench I'm going to attack this, I'm going to take it out. [Obi] If Toppin comes in, I'll keep trying to hunt [Al] Horford especially in the fourth quarter, it was like he was saving that a little bit, you know, because it wasn't like they were hunting Horford the whole game, picking up their spots, and in the fourth quarter they started going after him.
The Pacers were in the contest for most of the game, but Tyrese Haliburton tied the game late and Jaylen Brown hit a three at the death to send the game into OT.
The Celtics dominated from there.
Simmons didn't hold back his opinions about Carlisle coaching Mazzulla, but after the game Carlisle blamed himself for the loss because he didn't call a timeout near the end of the fourth game that would have prevented the conversion.
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