Celtics HC Strives to ‘Keep Jesus at the Center’ as Team Works for Another Championship

Published: April 16, 2026

By Mallory Mattingly

Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla aims to “keep Jesus at the center” while he brings his team back to championship form.

As the season began for the Celtics, fans were doubtful that their championship-scoring team would return to its winning ways. Guard Jayson Tatum was recovering from a torn Achilles, while “key contributors” Kristaps Porziņģis and Jrue Holiday, along with longtime center Al Horford, had left the team, Sports Spectrum reported.

For more inspiring sports stories, check out Sports Spectrum.

However, the Celtics have managed to post a winning record in the regular season and are sitting at No. 2 in the Eastern Conference.

On Sunday, the Celtics faced the Orlando Magic with only eight available players. Guards Jaylen Brown, Derrick White and Tatum were all unavailable, but that didn’t stop the Celtics from gaining another win.

“We said it all year, one through [18], whoever steps on the floor, there’s an expectation to put us in position with an opportunity to win,” Mazzulla told the media Sunday after the game. “Stick to the process of winning. Today is no different than the other 81 games from the standpoint of we had eight guys, and the expectation is to put us in position to win, to execute, to play hard, to play together.”

One of the factors that has kept Mazzulla on top since winning the championship in 2024 is his faith in God.

Following that victory, the coach wore a shirt that read, “BUT FIRST…LET ME THANK GOD.”

View this post on Instagram

After everyone left, Mazzulla and his wife, Camai, hung back to pray as they walked through the arena.

“On the walk, we were talking a lot about how this can’t change us,” he shared in 2024, per Sports Spectrum. “A lot of it was praying for the humility and perspective to not allow this to change who we are.”

Before he met his wife, Mazzulla had a “vision board” where he recorded all of his goals and aspirations.

“The vision board kind of tells your story — like I want to work for the Celtics, I want to win a Larry O’Brien Trophy, I want to be able to learn from these three guys…I want to keep Jesus at the center of it, and I want to have a family,” he said. “So it kind of helps you tell the story about where you want to go and how you’re going to get there.”

Through adversity and roster changes, Mazzulla continues to lead the Celtics with steady faith, trusting that keeping Jesus at the center is the foundation for both lasting success and true championship character.

Questions or comments? Please write to us here.