The Boston Celtics have finally gotten their first win of the 2025-26 season by blowing out the New Orleans Pelicans 122-90 at Smoothie King Center on Monday. While Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla would have been pleased with the outcome, he was rather frustrated with his players in the second quarter.
DeAndre Jordan, whom the Pelicans had only signed to a one-year deal on Friday, managed to dunk twice in the opening minutes of the quarter, and Mazzulla wasn’t happy. He called a timeout after the second dunk, and Celtics reporter Abby Chin revealed he ripped his players in the huddle for letting the 37-year-old Jordan dunk on them.
“Joe Mazulla brought up that dunk,” Chin stated. “He said, ‘DeAndre Jordan was on the street four days ago, and you let him come in here and dunk on you. He told his guys inside that huddle, ‘You cannot pick and choose when you want to be the best versions of yourselves. You need to bring it every possession.'”
The Celtics won the first quarter 34-26, but then allowed the Pelicans to go on a 6-0 run to start the second. Jordan, who put up seven points (3-4 FG) and five rebounds on the night, was the one who sparked that run, and here’s the dunk that led to Mazzulla calling a timeout.
Deandre Jordan rebounds it on one end, slams it on the other pic.twitter.com/y9KRALELQ6
— Pelicans Film Room (@PelsFilmRoom) October 28, 2025
That wasn’t great defense, and Mazzulla wanted his players to lock in. They were 0-3 entering this contest and couldn’t afford to take their foot off the gas.
The Celtics did manage to get back on track and pushed their lead to 65-54 by halftime. You’d have thought they would pull away after the break, but the Pelicans weren’t going away. A solid third quarter saw them enter the fourth down 87-78, which meant they were within striking distance.
The Celtics would dominate the final period, however, winning it 35-12 to turn this into a blowout. You wouldn’t have imagined the quarter would pan out like this, though, when Jaylen Brown picked up his fifth foul with just over 10 minutes remaining.
Brown headed to the bench with the Celtics leading 89-83, and they looked to be in a bit of trouble. Fortunately for them, Anfernee Simons stepped up. Simons scored 12 points the rest of the way and finished the night with 25 points (9-17 FG), six rebounds, one assist, and one steal.
The Pelicans also helped out the Celtics by going 3-19 from the field in the fourth. It was a disastrous quarter offensively, and they remain at the bottom of the pile in the Western Conference with a 0-3 record. There is a good chance that winless extends to four, as they take on the Denver Nuggets, Jordan’s former team, at the Ball Arena on Wednesday at 9 PM ET.
As for the Celtics, they’re now 1-3 and are 13th in the East. You wouldn’t fancy their chances of making it two wins in a row, though, as they face off against the Cleveland Cavaliers at the TD Garden on Wednesday at 7 PM ET.
