Adrian Wojnarowski reports that Celtics players never got over Ime Udoka's dismissal
BOSTON -- With the Celtics just one loss away from a disappointing end to their 2022-23 season, everyone is looking for the reasons why everything fell apart when it mattered the most. ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski had an interesting report on Monday, which centered around the shocking departure of Ime Udoka.
Udoka helped lead the Celtics to the NBA Finals in his first -- and only -- year on the Boston bench last season. While the Celtics lost to the Warriors, things were on the rise for the franchise.
But then Udoka was suspended just before the start of training camp for an inappropriate workplace relationship and violating team policies, which threw a dark cloud over the 2022-23 season. Joe Mazzulla was thrust into the interim position, and while Celtics players were at a loss on Media Day ahead of camp and still searching for answers on Udoka's suspension, the team still went out and won a lot of basketball games.
The Celtics were one of the best teams in the league at the All-Star break and Mazzulla was given the official title of head coach. That officially ended Boston's relationship with Udoka, who has since been named the head coach of the Houston Rockets.
But it didn't end players questioning Boston's decision to part ways with Udoka, and that feeling has seemingly creeped into the playoffs with the C's struggling against the 8-seeded Miami Heat.
Though Mazzulla was accepted by everyone at the start of the season, it's been clear that he has a long way to go as Boston fell into a 3-0 hole to the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals. He's been thoroughly outcoached by Erik Spoelstra, and it looked like players had completely quit during a blowout loss in Game 3.
Udoka was never afraid to tell the players when they needed to shape up, which sparked the team's second-half turnaround and trip to the Finals last season. Now that Boston's season is on the brink, Wojnarowski is reporting that players never got over -- or understood -- Udoka's dismissal from the franchise.
"This team, this locker room, they never got over Ime Udoka's dismissal as head coach," Wojnarowski said Monday. "These players did not accept the organization's reasoning for doing it. They thought it was a wild overreaction. There were a lot of people on the outside who thought it was an overreaction, it was an HR matter.
"I think with this team, and talking with management, they never got the answers, they never got anymore answers than the public was getting on this," Wojnarowski continued. "That doesn't mean they haven't accepted Joe Mazzulla as head coach. But this is a team that really believed in Ime Udoka, had a strong connection with him. I think there were a couple instances this season where a lot of that angst resurfaced. First, when the Brooklyn Nets nearly hired Udoka as head coach and then when the Rockets did."
Now that angst is apparently back with the team's season on the brink, as the Celtics look to stave off elimination on Tuesday night in Miami.
Point guard Marcus Smart dismissed the notion that the Udoka saga is why the Celtics have not looked like themselves against Miami.
"Regardless if Ime was here or not, we're the ones out here playing. And we have to go out and play," Smart said after Tuesday's shootaround. "Joe does a great job putting us in the right position. It's on us. There is only so much that any coach can do for you out there as a player. At some point you have to look at yourself and figure it out."
