6 things I noticed from sitting courtside(ish) at Celtics-Mavericks

DALLAS — There are a lot of ways to consume an NBA game: on television (how I grew up watching the game), by listening to the radio (when I was rushing home from my high school basketball practices), from press seats that are 30 feet away (the occasional low attendance media game) or from up in the balcony (my typical press seats).

On Saturday, with the Celtics facing the Mavericks in the season’s official NBA Finals rematch, I was assigned first-row press seats — right at center court behind the official scorekeepers. It took me 15 minutes to find the seats because I didn’t even consider my name tag could possibly be just a single row behind the Celtics bench, but when I finally came across my “Noa Dalzell, SB Nation” tag, I knew I was in for a treat.

Aside from the obvious comfortable view that the seats afforded, the seating assignment gave me the chance to see and hear the game from a completely different vantage point than I normally do.

My rule of thumb as a basketball reporter is that if I experience something cool as a result of this being my job, my obligation is to write about it. So, I figured I’d write about what stood out from the 2.5 hours I spent just a few feet away from Joe Mazzulla and the rest of the Celtics.

The NBA’s physicality does not translate on the television screen

From the first play of the game, it became incredibly apparent just how much physicality NBA referees let teams get away with. It astounded me how many times Jayson Tatum drove to the basket through multiple layers of contact, or how Jaylen Brown clearly bodied Kyrie Irving or slapped Klay Thompson’s arm, yet no foul was called.

Realizing how much contact players get away with on each play made me chuckle at the notion that NBA players don’t play any defense — I’ve already rewatched most of this game on TV, and I’m realizing just how much the physicality doesn’t translate onto the television screen. I also sometimes see players be irate after a call they disagree with — and then when I’ve watched the replay, I’ve been confused as to why they’re denying a foul when it’s obvious there was overt contact. Recognizing that a certain level of physical contact is typically not called helps explain why players are frustrated when a minimal amount of contact draws a whistle.

Joe Mazzulla outwardly prioritizes defense on the sidelines

The third-year head coach paced up and down the sidelines, mostly barking defensive commands. Mazzulla was noticeably a lot more talkative when the Celtics were on the defensive end than on offense, and he was particularly reactive when the Celtics deflected or intercepted a pass, or when they grabbed an offensive rebound.

On one occasion, Mazzulla challenged Payton Pritchard to play better defense when someone scored on him on a switch. A couple of times, he barked specific commands at Luke Kornet when he was out of position.

And, in that same vein, whenever the Celtics had a particularly connected defensive possession, Mazzulla clenched his fist in approval, allowing himself to break his typically stoic face in mild celebration.

One of his most visceral reactions on the night was when Kristaps Porzingis dove to the floor for a loose ball — which ultimately gave the Celtics another possession.

At the same time, it appeared that Mazzulla almost withheld from celebrating any offensive success, for one reason or another. That stood out a bit because Mazzulla has the reputation of being an offensive-minded coach; instead, it stood out that he was a lot more outwardly expressive when players made hustle plays or got stops, rather than when they scored.

Sam Cassell loves to talk — even more than I realized

Joe Mazzulla’s lead assistant, Sam Cassell, has regularly been described as one of the team’s largest personalities.

Last fall, Jayson Tatum made headlines when he declared, “he talks more than anybody I’ve ever met in my life.”

But, I never quite realized just how much Cassell speaks during games until I was seated right behind him.

When the Celtics were on defense, Cassell repeatedly shouted specific commands at players who were out of position:

“Shift JB,” he bellowed at Brown a couple of times.

“Faster JT,” he urged Tatum as he dribbled the ball up the floor.

More than anyone, Cassell spoke to Pritchard throughout his 27-minute stint.

In addition to being the loudest voice on the sidelines, it quickly became apparent to me that Cassell is also one of the team’s unofficial officiating liaisons. When Jrue Holiday was called for an offensive foul with 7 minutes left in the third quarter, Cassell was exasperated, yelling to Scott Foster: “He pushed him!” The Celtics ultimately (successfully) challenged that call.

Jaylen Brown, Kyrie Irving, and other players regularly bantered

When Kyrie Irving threw a pass that hit a young courtside fan in the nose, Jaylen Brown visibly poked fun at his former teammate and current competitor.

“What kind of pass was that?,” Brown appeared to say, laughing. Derrick White seemed to chime in and tease him as well. Irving cracked a smile.

Throughout the night, it stuck out to me how many times White got opposing players laughing, as well as how many instances of friendly back-and-forth banter there was between Brown and Irving throughout the game.

Brown’s proclivity toward joking around especially resonated because earlier this week, after an overtime win against the Clippers, he said that something he wishes people knew about him was that he’s a lot funnier than people think.

“They think because I don’t smile when I talk to the media that I’m serious all the time, but I’m a lot funnier than people give me credit for,” Brown said.

I haven’t joked around with Brown too much, but sitting courtside, I realized he’s more laid-back and goofy than I realized.

Frustrations with the officials sometimes mount over the smallest things

With about 4:30 minutes to play in the third quarter, Jayson Tatum tried to check into the game — but Scott Foster was adamant that it was too late and that he had to wait for the next dead ball. The Celtics ultimately called a timeout with 2:34 to play which got Tatum into the game, but the six-time All-Star was furious about being held from checking in those few minutes.

It’s something I might not have noticed watching the game from the balcony, but seeing how frustrated Tatum got with Foster was telling — one, because it demonstrated to me just how eager Tatum is to play when it’s his turn to check in, and two, because sometimes when frustrations boil over with officials, it stems from a relatively inconsequential disagreement from earlier in the night.

This particular disagreement never turned into a technical foul (despite the Celtics seeming pretty unhappy with the officiating throughout the night). But, it was interesting to see just how contentious a simple disagreement became.

Luke Kornet and Sam Hauser lead the bench mob

Derrick White had his best stretch of basketball in months to open up the third quarter, and the Celtics bench was going nuts the entire time. That fervent effort was led by Luke Kornet and Sam Hauser, who were on their feet for most of the third, making barking noises at D-White. The rest of the guys — Jaden Springer, Baylor Scheierman, Jordan Walsh, Xavier Tillman, and Neemias Queta — were equally locked in, despite not having seen the floor for much of the night.

While it doesn’t take much for the Celtics bench to rise to its feet, White seems to spark an elevated level of enthusiasm and joy from the Stay Ready crew. Sitting so close to it made that enthusiasm even more visceral.

Shoutout to the Mavericks PR Or Celtics PR team. Whoever assigned me that seat — it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.