Before receiving his diamond-studded Celtics championship ring, Joe Mazzulla paused in the paint, dropped to his knees and kissed the famed parquet at TD Garden.
Why did he do that? To “express the passion and the gratitude that I have for our team, for the people that have come before and for what it means to be a Celtic.”
“There’s no place better than the city and the team and just being in the arena with the people,” Mazzulla said.
Respect for the past was a common theme before and after Tuesday night’s banner-raising ceremony, which featured appearances by Celtics champions Bob Cousy, Cedric Maxwell, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen.
What did the Garden floor taste like? The Celtics head coach answered that follow-up question with the latest in a long list of gleefully insane Mazzulla quotes.
“Blood,” he replied after the Celtics smashed the New York Knicks 132-109 in their season opener. “Or I wish it did.”
Mazzulla also offered an entertaining review of the Celtics’ oversized rings.
“This thing’s too big,” he said. “I don’t — why is it so big? I’m never gonna wear it, but it’s cool to have. That’s kind of what I thought. I was more fascinated by the banner because I come in there every afternoon and take a look at those, and they represent so much. So the banner was the highlight for me, because it represents a lot of things that go into it, and the rafters have a life of their own in this building. So that moment was the coolest.”
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