Why the Celtics are embracing a quote from ‘The City’ as a part of their ‘ride-or-die’ mantra within the playoffs

Celtics

“It would not matter what we’re going to get into, we’re going to do it collectively.”

Joe Mazzulla isn’t precisely one to make headline-snagging statements every time he takes to the rostrum.

However the Celtics’ first-year head coach did let his postgame apparel do a number of the speaking after Boston blew out the 76ers, 112-88, in Recreation 7 on Sunday night.

Whereas fielding questions from the media, Mazzulla donned a Nike sweatshirt with the phrases, “Whose automobile we gonna take?” etched on the entrance. 

In fact, Boston-area cinephiles ought to acknowledge the quote instantly as a well-known line from the 2010 movie, “The City.”

The back-and-forth between Ben Affleck’s Doug MacRay and Jeremy Renner’s James Coughlin is acknowledged as one of the vital quotable traces from a movie set within the Commonwealth, becoming a member of different quips corresponding to “How do you want them apples?” and “I’m the man who does his job, you should be the opposite man.”

However Renner’s retort is greater than only a artistic design for Mazzulla’s new sweatshirt. In line with guard Malcolm Brogdon, it’s a rallying cry for a Celtics crew shopping for into one widespread objective this postseason.

“I believe it’s ‘Whose automobile are we taking?’ I believe that’s the saying,” Brogdon informed NESN.com’s Sean T. McGuire of the quote. “And it’s mainly simply journey or die on your guys, the blokes you’re on the courtroom with, the blokes you’re competing with. It’s having the mentality [of] it doesn’t matter what we’re going to get into, we’re going to do it collectively.”

Though Mazzulla hasn’t expanded a lot on the quote in query, he did tip his hand earlier this yr about his affinity for the favored movie about Charlestown financial institution robbers.

Throughout a pregame interview again in January, Brian Scalabrine stated that Mazzulla watches the movie “4 occasions per week.”

When requested how his frequent viewings of “The City” pertains to the Celtics, Mazzulla answered, “I assume only a mindset. A Boston mindset.”