While it’s a showcase of athleticism and basketball brilliance on the floor, coaches demonstrate their tactical mastery from the sidelines. Joe Mazzulla, who is known for his foxy out-of-the-box approach, got tricked by the Memphis Grizzlies coach, Taylor Jenkins. Tonight, the Celtics hosted Ja Morant & Co. at TD Garden and suffered an embarrassing loss, falling prey to Jenkins’ astute plan straight from Coach Steve Kerr’s playbook! While Joe welcomed the creativity and lauded it, Jaylen Brown wasn’t happy.

Last season, the Warriors visited Boston and suffered a blowout 88-140 loss. There are plenty of things to talk about that game, like Steph Curry’s off-night and stuff. But something that stood out was Kerr’s brave yet highly deemed disrespectful defensive strategy. They decided to leave Brown open and dared him to pull from the deep. It certainly didn’t work, as the Finals MVP finished with a game-high 29 points with a 5-10 clip from the deep.

However, tonight, Coach Jenkins seemed to have figured out a way to use the strategy in the right way, applying it on Jrue Holiday instead. The 2x NBA Champ had a tough night shooting at 4-17 from the deep. Last season, speaking about the Warriors situation, Jaylen Brown had a confident response, saying, “If you wanna dare me to shoot, we can do that too.” However, tonight, he wasn’t pleased, as he said, “Teams got to do magic tricks, try to pull rabbits out of hats to try and beat us,” at the presser.

However, Coach Joe Mazzulla didn’t seem taken aback by the strategy. In fact, the reigning champion HC instead called it a “bold” move. He added, “I think that’s a risky one, and I thought he handled it great. We empower him and want him to shoot any shot that’s open. … He didn’t make them all, but you move on. I’m glad that we saw that, and it’s going to be good for us.” On the other hand, the man of the moment, Jrue, admitted that all this did not catch him off-guard and he “kind of liked it.”

Amid Jaylen Brown’s meltdown, what did Coach Jenkins say about the strategy?

During the post-game presser after the 127-121 win, Coach Jenkins indirectly highlighted the success of his strategy. With the game on the line, the Celtics struggled to chase down the Grizzlies’ lead in the final minutes. They indeed needed an ace shooter to back Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. While the team had the service of Kristaps Porzingis, Joe Mazzulla pulled out a surprising move of benching Jrue Holiday and opting for Payton Pritchard.

Pritchard did have a hot night, shooting 6-11 from deep. But it was shocking to see the 2x NBA Champ on the bench. A reporter after the game addressed the scenario with Jenkins. While we expected him to talk about the defensive strategy, he said something else.

“Can’t predict why Joe chose what he chose, but Pritchard definitely a problem for us… We know what Jrue is capable of. 2x champion, offensive, playmaking, shotmaking, defense,” said Jenkins in response. Most importantly, he credited his team’s offensive efforts at the end to seal the deal for the team. Nevertheless, what do you make of this foxy strategy? Let us know in the comments.