Celtics Watched Video of Deion Sanders, Colorado Blowing Lead as Teaching Point

Deion Sanders hopes Colorado's 29-point lead against Stanford earlier this season will be a pivotal learning point toward him turning the Buffaloes' program around.

Apparently, Boston Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla wants his team to take the same lesson.

Celtics guard Derrick White told Jay King of The Athletic that Mazzulla showed video of Colorado's collapse to the team during a film session, noting "small details Colorado let slip" that led to the Stanford comeback.

Mazzulla is hopeful the Celtics took that lesson to heart and won't make the same mistakes this season.

"Everybody obviously sees the end (result)," White said, "but it's a bunch of little plays throughout every game that make the difference."

While that film session is at its surface a basic motivational tool, it's evidence of Mazzulla's attempt to put his imprint on the team culture in his first season as the full-time head coach. When Mazzulla took the job in September 2022, he was at first seen as a temporary solution while Ime Udoka served a one-year suspension for violating team rules.

Instead, Mazzulla acquitted himself well despite critics and was promoted to the full-time position midway through the 2022-23 campaign.

Now comfortable in his place as the Celtics' leader, Mazzulla has the team heeding his lessons.

Boston stayed composed during Wednesday's season-opening win over the New York Knicks, withstanding a number of comeback attempts and even rallying late for a 108-104 victory.

"I thought the mindset we brought was good the majority of the night," said Mazzulla. "You're going to expect games to go like that, it's like every time we play them it's a one-possession game. I thought we were relatively tough on both ends of the floor and I thought we tried to execute down the stretch. We know that's something we're going to have to continue to grow at is our late-game execution. I thought we brought poise, I thought we brought good spacing, I thought we tried to make the right play."