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Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla explained why he bizarrely tried blocking Royce O'Neale's shot

It’s common in the NBA to see a player put up a shot after the whistle, only to see it swatted away by an opponent anyway, with the possible thinking that it’s a mind game, or maybe that you don’t want a player gaining confidence.

Which brings us to Thursday night’s Boston Celtics and Phoenix Suns tilt: as the Suns called a timeout, Royce O’Neale put up a long, meaningless three near the Celts’ bench … and Boston head coach Joe Mazzulla contested it.

Weird, but the coach explained after why he did it: he didn’t want O’Neale to feel “good about himself going to the bench.” And apparently, it’s a Celtics rule that players don’t shoot in front of the bench like that.

“If I’m gonna ask the guys to contest, staff’s gotta do the same,” he added.

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