Boston Celtics
The Celtics head coach earned the award for the fifth time in his career.
The Celtics continue to impress in the NBA’s 2025-26 campaign, despite fans and the media anticipating Boston to have a bridge year entering the season.
Boston’s latest achievement features head coach Joe Mazzulla, who was named December’s Eastern Conference Coach of the Month, the league announced Friday.
Mazzulla helped guide the Celtics to a 9-3 record last month, plus a NBA-best 124.3 offensive rating. Boston earned victories against opponents such as the Toronto Raptors (on Dec. 7 and again on Dec. 20) and the New York Knicks, finding its way to third place in the East entering Friday.
In December, the Celtics found themselves atop the East in several statistics: win percentage (.750), field goal percentage (49.3%), net rating (11.0), and true shooting percentage (61.4%). Additionally, Boston ranked second in 3-pointers made per game (15.9), third in blocks per game (5.5), third in offensive rebounding percentage (32.9%), and fourth in defensive rating (113.3).
These feats lent a hand in Mazzulla garnering the Coach of the Month award, which marked his fifth time earning those honors. He has earned the accolade at least once in each of the four seasons since being named Celtics head coach in 2022.
While the NBA has an early, but vast, candidate pool for Coach of the Year, there’s certainly a chance Mazzulla could be considered for the end-of-season award if Boston continues to trend upward. The Celtics are just 3.5 games back of the first-place Detroit Pistons in the East entering Friday and seem to keep playing better basketball with each contest.
Jaylen Brown quickly emerged as the team’s leader on and off the court to begin the season as Jayson Tatum rehabs from his torn Achilles, and Brown is only improving as the season progresses. In December, Brown averaged the most points per game (31.7) to lead the NBA. He also notched 6.4 rebounds per game, 5.4 assists, a 53.8 field goal percentage, and 42.6 three-point percentage last month.
Brown was the only player in the East to average 30 points/six rebounds/five assists in December, and he has scored 30 or more points in nine of his last 10 contests. Mazzulla has likely played a vital role in helping Brown reach this level on the parquet.
It remains to be seen how Boston’s remaining 49 regular season games will play out, but the Celtics did kick off the new year, and their West Coast road trip, with a 120-106 victory over the Sacramento Kings. Brown scored 29 points and Mazzulla highlighted his team’s second-half defensive effort after the game.
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