As Queen’s “We are the Champions” played on loud speakers, he joined Celtics co-owner Steve Pagliuca and Governor Daniel J. McKee in a ceremony celebrating the Celtics’ 18th NBA championship, which they won by beating the Dallas Mavericks in June.
Boston Celtics Coach Joe Mazzulla, a Rhode Island native, walks down the Rhode Island State House steps with the NBA championship trophy along with Celtics co-owner Steve Pagliuca, left, and Rhode Island Governor Daniel J. McKee, right.Glenn Osmundson
“To get back to the foundation of who I am, and where I’m from, has been one of the greatest gifts that I’ve gotten,” Mazzulla told the crowd. “So thank you to everyone.”
Mazzulla, 36, recalled leaving Rhode Island when he was 17 years old, heading off to help lead West Virginia University to the NCAA tournament. And he said that since joining the Celtics four years ago, he has enjoyed reconnecting with the people who shaped him as a young man.
“It’s been really cool coming back with my wife, with my kids,” he said, “just constantly running into people that gave me a ride, that bought me lunch, that babysat me, that came to my games, that supported me when I was in CYO or when I was in high school, who knew my father, who knew my family.”
Mazzulla’s father, Dan, excelled as a coach at Johnston High School for many years. Before that, he played at then-Bryant College, and then professionally in Chile. In April 2020, after a battle with brain cancer, he died at age 61.
Mazzulla said he grew up with a plaque of the top 20 players in Celtics history on his wall, and he feels fortunate to be coaching the team now.
“Every day I drive into the facility and still pinch myself a little bit with gratitude and, you know, ‘How the hell did I get here?’ ” he said.
He said his uncle used to take him to sporting events all around New England, including New England Patriots’ training camp at Bryant College, the Major League Baseball All-Star Game at Fenway Park, and Celtics games at the FleetCenter, now known as TD Garden.
Pagliuca, co-chairman of Bain Capital, told the crowed that when he and the other owners bought the Celtics 21 years ago, they had three goals. The top goal was to win a championship. The second goal was to make the environment better for fans at TD Garden. And the third was to integrate the Celtics even more into the community.
“And this is part of that,” he said. “I’m very proud of Joe Mazzulla.”
Pagliuca said he lives in Narragansett now, and he emphasized his Italian heritage, saying, “I just read that I think Rhode Island has a higher percentage of Italian population than any state in the nation.” (The World Population Review ranks Rhode Island second in percentage of Italian population in 2024, behind Connecticut.)
Pagliuca was wearing the championship ring that the Celtics won in 2008. “It has taken us another 16 years to get another one, and I think Joe hopefully would bring us one more,” he said, drawing cheers from the crowd.
People reach out for autographs and photos of Boston Celtics Coach Joe Mazzulla, a Johnston native who brought the NBA championship trophy to the Rhode Island State House.Glenn Osmundson
Pagliuca said he believed Mazzulla was the youngest coach to ever win an NBA championship. But actually, Mazzulla was 35 when the Celtics won, and Bill Russell was 34 when he was player-coach for the world champion Boston Celtics in 1968.
McKee, a former basketball coach who wore a Celtics 2024 finals T-shirt on Tuesday that read “Whatever It Takes,” said he grew up watching Russell lead the Celtics, and he recalled when the team played at the former Rhode Island Auditorium in Providence.
A former Cumberland mayor, McKee noted that the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy is made at Tiffany’s hollowware workshop in Cumberland.
McKee said he has a sense of what Mazzulla faced when he was asked to step in as Celtics coach after the team suspended Ime Udoka. He noted he was lieutenant governor when then-Governor Gina M. Raimondo was named US Commerce secretary, and McKee stepped in as governor in March 2021.
“I feel as though that there is a little bit of me in Joe,” McKee said. “Joe is sitting on the bench as an assistant, and then the opportunity came, just like as a lieutenant governor, I stepped into the governor’s office in the same way. That’s not easy. And from that experience, I know it’s not easy.”
McKee said Raimondo contacted him about bringing the championship trophy to Rhode Island and connected him with the leadership of the Celtic organization. “So today we’re here as a result of that phone call,” he said.
He praised Mazzulla’s coaching skills, saying, “When you talk about developing teams and creating a synergy that works, I don’t know of anybody that’s done it better than Joe.”
McKee noted that Tuesday was the first day of school for many Rhode Island students, and he invited the few children in attendance to come up and take a photo with Mazzulla. One wore a West Virginia basketball jersey with Mazzulla’s name on it.
“We can get away with this because there’s only five kids here. Remember that we are working on ‘attendance matters,’ “ McKee said, referring to his administration’s campaign to boost school attendance.
Rhode Island Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green attended Tuesday’s event and later gave Mazzulla a set of rosary beads from her son, Asher Green, who wants to be a priest and is attending Bishop Hendricken High School. She said her family brought home the rosary beads from a trip to the Vatican, and that they had been blessed by Pope Francis, noting Mazzulla is a Catholic who often mentions the importance of his faith.
Get Rhode Map
A weekday briefing from veteran Rhode Island reporters, focused on the things that matter most in the Ocean State.
Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at edward.fitzpatrick@globe.com. Follow him @FitzProv.
Source link : http://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=66d7b7c8aaab4a49a3e017e4761082f1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bostonglobe.com%2F2024%2F09%2F03%2Fmetro%2Fceltics-joe-mazzulla-nba-trophy-rhode-island%2F&c=6148221162026173850&mkt=en-us
Author :
Publish date : 2024-09-03 08:38:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.