Joe Mazzulla clapped on the sidelines as his Boston Celtics stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown scuffled against the Atlanta Hawks. Mazzulla refused to step in as Tatum got tangled with Onyeka Okongwu.

The stats say the Celtics have been one of the NBA's best teams since mid-December. Their record says otherwise. What's the problem? Joe Mazzulla had a simple and obvious explanation.

Joe Mazzulla defends Jayson Tatum following his tussle with Onyeka Okongwu during the Celtics overtime defeat to the Hawks.

Coach Joe Mazzulla said the shift was sparked by the fact that Boston is finally fully healthy, giving him more potential combinations.

After losing to the Hawks, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla made it clear that he's not scared of the challenges of the regular season.

When Boston needed a stop, the calls the Celtics coach made proved disastrous, and afterward took responsibility for the loss: "I didn't help them close it at the end."

Those last two plays are on me. Those are my fault.” Joe Mazzulla pointed the finger at himself after the Celtics dropped a 114-112 thriller to the Rockets on Monday night.

The power forward, who added 23 points, had been a doubt for the game with a left shoulder strain, and did not take many shots during the warm-up

"You’ve got to take the good with the bad, and understand that down the road, we could be grateful for this stretch," said Tatum via Boston Dot Com's Colin McCarthy. "If we continue to stick together, if we continue to be a close-knit group. If we figure it out together, come out on the other side of this, we’ll feel a lot better about ourselves."

Jayson Tatum struggled from the field shooting 5-14 with 19 points while Jaylen Brown carried a majority of the load shooting 10-23 and finishing with 28 points. Payton Pritchard added 15 points off the bench including the unsuccessful full-court heave as time expired.

Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla has opted to shoulder the blame for the decisive final two plays in his team's latest loss, a 114-112 defeat at the hands