Joe Mazzulla has built a reputation for treating NBA press conferences like performance art, but even by his standards, Thursday night’s explanation for a late-game coach’s challenge landed as peak Mazzulla.
After Jaylen Brown was whistled for a blocking foul late in Boston’s 120–106 win over Sacramento, a call that also happened to be Brown’s sixth, Mazzulla used his challenge. The replay review upheld the foul, Brown fouled out with just over two minutes remaining, and the Celtics moved on. Then came the postgame punchline.
“Really just kinda wanted to hear Billy Kennedy,” Mazzulla said of lead official Bill Kennedy. “He does a really great challenge, and we were gonna do it anyway just to kinda hear him deliver the challenge.”
Joe Mazzulla on his late-game challenge of a block called on Jaylen Brown: “Really just kinda wanted to hear Billy Kennedy. He does a really great challenge, and we were gonna do it anyway just to kinda hear him deliver the challenge.” pic.twitter.com/Pq1oQjSUJs
— Marc D’Amico (@Marc_DAmico) January 2, 2026
It was classic deadpan, delivered as if it were a totally normal piece of late-game strategy, yet it also nodded to something anyone who watches a lot of NBA understands: Kennedy has become a minor cult hero for the way he announces replay decisions. His mic’d-up explanations are unusually animated and theatrical by officiating standards, to the point that broadcasts and social media regularly highlight them as part of the show.
Yessss we get another Bill Kennedy review, coming soon pic.twitter.com/Svr045sgIg
— Danielle Hobeika (@DanielleHobeika) January 2, 2026
The moment even played on-air like a bit. During the review, NBC Sports Boston’s booth leaned into the anticipation of hearing Kennedy’s verdict, turning a routine challenge into a small piece of entertainment inside the game.
And while Mazzulla’s quote was clearly joking… the challenge itself was understandable from a practical standpoint, given it was Brown’s sixth foul, the coach’s explanation captured what makes the modern NBA so uniquely watchable: everything is competitive, everything is content, and sometimes the most memorable “play” is the one that ends with a referee on the microphone.
