DALLAS — The Celtics entered Friday with an opportunity to become NBA champions in large part because of the metronomic consistency of their approach and execution. A ton of the credit for that belongs to head coach Joe Mazzulla, whose unflinching — and, at times, eyebrow-raising — commitment to a process-over-results, sweat-the-small-stuff style has helped transform Boston from a talented team given to occasional lapses into one that has functioned, for most of the last eight months, like a brutally efficient winning machine.
As Mazzulla told reporters before Game 4, though, a healthy share of the credit should also go to the team his Celtics had the chance to sweep.