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Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla has been known for his feisty nature, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that one of his dream NBA rule changes is a bit daring.
Mazzulla said during a radio appearance on Boston’s 98.5 The Sports Hub that his dream rule change would be to “bring back fighting.”
“I think the biggest thing that we rob people from as an entertainment standpoint is you can’t fight anymore,” Mazzulla said. “I wish you could bring back fighting.”
He added: “I mean, you aren’t talking about robbing the league of entertainment. What’s more entertaining than when there is a little scuffle?”
Mazzulla also said he’d like to see the NBA implement some form of a five-on-four advantage in certain situations.
“Hey, I mean, basketball is one of the only sports that doesn’t have a power play,” he said.
“I think soccer just put in the ‘blue card’ where a Guy has to go off and it’s a 10 on 9. Like we should have a power play. Because let’s say you have a technical or let’s say you get a take foul, and you get the one shot, but you’re not really rewarded for that because if you miss it, you don’t get the reward for that take foul. So there should be like a power play where on a take foul or on a technical, you have to play five on four for five seconds or three passes.”
Mazzulla, who is the youngest coach in the NBA at 35 years old, has been known to mix it up with players. He once hilariously tried to block a shot by Royce O’Neale after calling a timeout.
The current era of the NBA features a lot of camaraderie between players, so it’s unlikely that Mazzulla will get his wish of fighting to return to the league anytime soon.
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