NBA: Joe Mazzulla will return as Celtics coach

Joe Mazzulla will return as head coach of the Boston Celtics despite losing a winner-take-all NBA playoff showdown with Miami, Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens said Thursday.

The Celtics could have become the first team in NBA history to win a playoff series after dropping the first three games but were routed 103-84 by the Heat on Monday in the seventh game of the Eastern Conference finals.

Mazzulla’s fate was in doubt after woeful performances in key games, but Stevens made it clear the Celtics, who promoted assistant Mazzulla after the firing of Ime Udoka as coach last September and removed his interim tag in February, is the man for the job.

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