Joe Mazzulla explains his decision to bench starters in the Bucks’ rout

As the Celtics’ deficit ballooned to a historic halftime deficit, there were some questions on what C’s coach Joe Mazzulla would do to start the second half. The C’s faced a 75-38 halftime deficit, which was its second-largest in franchise history.

That’s when Mazzulla pulled the trigger to bench the starters to open the third quarter. Last season, that wasn’t necessarily the case as starters played deep in blowouts, whether it was a C’s lead or deficit. Mazzulla broke down his decision to bench the starters after the game.

“It’s tough,” Mazzulla said. “They want to play; they prepared. Again, it was my decision. It wasn’t theirs. At the end of the day, it’s my responsibility to do what’s best for them and the team. If I said, ‘Hey, you want to go out there?’ They’re going to do it. It was me. I told them and I felt like it was my responsibility to do it.”

Mazzulla didn’t ring any alarm bells after the Celtics were blasted in the 135-102 loss to the Bucks. They’re still a league-best 29-9. While they lost a game to the second-place Bucks, they still have a three-game cushion in the standings. Most importantly, as Mazzulla says often, their intentions were still good and there weren’t any reasons to worried about the team’s habits, he said.

The Celtics also finished up a five-games-in-seven-days stretch, so it was no surprise they were gassed. Add on top an overtime win over the Timberwolves a night before, it’s no surprise the C’s looked tired. Mazzulla said he thought it was in the best interest of the team as he also hoped Thursday’s loss could be a learning moment for his squad. All that’s left then is to turn the page to their next game, which is set for 7 p.m. Saturday against the Rockets at home.

“Everything’s about the players,” Mazzulla said. “And so as you continue to listen to life from the player’s perspective and you look at the intentions and the character of your team, and a year of experience for myself. So I trust our character; I trust our team. You have to look at this and say, ‘OK, is this a one-off? Is this a trend? Is this something you have to be concerned about?’ When you look at stuff like that, the answer is no, no.”