Even though Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla has not been with the Celtics that much longer than newcomer Kristaps Porzingis has, the Latvian big man has much respect for the Boston head coach. Speaking after the Celtics’ 129-124 win over the Indiana Pacers at TD Garden on Tuesday evening via CLNS Media, Porzingis said that “Joe is very smart, and he is very, also, mindset-driven.”

“He knows how important the mindset and the mentality is,” added the Boston big man. “And that’s just who he is. He does jiu-jitsu, he plays chess.  … He’s a young coach, but I think he’s very smart.”

This stands in stark contrast to a lingering and small but vocal cadre of Celtics fans who tend to blame Mazzulla for every fault of the team this season while often pining for the return of disgraced former Celtics head coach Ime Udoka.

It remains unclear why those fans would be so quick to blame Mazzulla when the team has the best record in the league and has exorcised many of the bad habits that have held this team back.

But the people who the Celtics head coach most needs to believe in him — his players — seem to, and quite strongly at that. And that trust in Mazzulla is what they will need to have if a title run is truly to be on the table.

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Story originally appeared on Celtics Wire