The Boston Celtics easily beat the Phoenix Suns on Thursday night and everyone on the roster got involved.
In fact, head coach Joe Mazzulla showed some of his defensive skills.
After the Suns called a timeout in the fourth quarter, Royce O’Neale threw up a shot before heading back to the bench.
Mazzulla didn’t approve and stepped out in front of the shot, even though it was a dead-ball that would have no impact on the game.
Charles Barkley didn’t like what he saw and called out Mazzulla following Boston’s win.
“I would’ve knocked the hell out of him, I’m not gonna lie. I would’ve hit him … I’ma tell you why I don’t like it. What if he stepped on his ankle and hurt himself badly. He can’t do that, come on, man,” Barkley said, via NBACentral.
Charles Barkley calls out Joe Mazzulla for trying to block Royce O’Neale’s shot
“I would’ve knocked the hell out of him, I’m not gonna lie. I would’ve hit him … I’ma tell you why I don’t like it. What if he stepped on his ankle and hurt himself badly. He can’t do that, come… pic.twitter.com/Qc9DliBEmX
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) March 15, 2024
Mazzulla would later tell the press that he was attempting to block O’Neale because he didn’t want the Suns player to head to the bench feeling good about his shot if it went in.
“I saw a guy going in to try to get a shot and he hadn’t made one and I didn’t want him to feel good about himself going to the bench,” Mazzulla told Yahoo.
Mazzulla said his team has a rule about blocking shots after timeouts are called and he was simply doing what anybody with the Celtics would.
However, Barkley thinks that Mazzulla put O’Neale in danger and could have ended up hurting him.
What would have happened if O’Neale landed on Mazzulla’s foot and was forced to miss time?
Many viewers were surprised by Mazzulla’s brief time in the game and some thought that he should have received a technical foul.
But if he had done that to Barkley, the Celtics coach would have walked away with a lot more than just a foul.
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