Who better than Michael Jordan to talk about the art of winning? The Chicago Bulls legend has said time and again that he wasn’t and still isn’t afraid of losing. His Airness didn’t need anyone to keep him motivated, either. He stepped away from basketball after the first three-peat, came back after about 17 months, and immediately looked like himself again. That mentality hasn’t disappeared, and this summer the six-time champion had no trouble dishing out some life lessons.

The Celtics’ head coach, Joe Mazzulla, who’s also known for his relentless mindset, appears to have been Jordan’s lucky pupil. Before we get to what he was told, does he really need advice? Well, for the second straight season, Boston enters the Eastern Conference race without being the favorite. With Jaylen Brown gone, Mazzulla will need to reinvent his approach based on what he has left.

“Jordan told Joe, ‘The reason why I kept winning is because I acted like I never won, and if you act like you’ve never done anything, then you are hungry to continue to get it.’ And he said, like, Jordan was like that,” former Celtics champion Brian Scalabrine said on SiriusXM NBA Radio, stressing that the information was secondhand. “That was his message to Joe.”

Boston defied early-season predictions that last year would be a gap year without Jayson Tatum. The front office had even moved out veterans like Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis to trim the payroll further. But months later, with Brown having an MVP-esque season, the Celtics finished second in the East at 56-26.

That regular-season success, however, quickly became an afterthought. Philly stunned Boston 4-3 in the first round, winning Game 7 at TD Garden. Then they shockingly traded Brown for arguably a worse return in Paul George… So now Joe Mazzulla has to reset his team and find another source of hunger.

Meanwhile, if you think about it, Michael Jordan’s own career journey perfectly encapsulates his message to Mazzulla. He had already conquered a three-peat before the 1996 playoffs. Yet Jordan returned from his first retirement and still averaged 31.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 2.3 steals during those playoffs. Unfortunately, the 1995 postseason ended with Chicago losing the series 4-2 to the Orlando Magic in the second round. That motivated him even more.

“Each time I step on the basketball court, I have a motivation either to prove something to myself or to prove something to you or to the other team,” Jordan told SLAM Magazine years later. “I don’t like to lose. This team doesn’t like to lose. That’s motivation within itself. It’s a definite, and a don’t. Either way, you don’t want to lose, and that’s the motivation.”

The result? One of the greatest stretches in NBA history. Chicago won 72 games in 1995-96 and captured the championship, beginning Jordan’s second three-peat journey. Jordan retired again after the 1998 season, leaving the league with six championships. That same idea appears to resonate with Mazzulla. Here’s why.

Around the same time two years ago, the Celtics were defending champions. When the media kept calling them that, Mazzulla said ‘defending a title’ was a very “passive-aggressive term.”

“If you look at the animal kingdom, some of the strongest animals don’t defend; they’re the most aggressive, and they attack the most,” Mazzulla said on Locked on Celtics. “Whether you’ve won or haven’t won, your mindset can’t change.”

There’s one more very recent example that highlights Mazzulla’s mindset. During an appearance on Champion Mindset with Daniel Cormier, the Celtics coach pushed back when the host repeatedly labeled him a champion.

“To be honest with you, you’ve used that word like five times, and it makes me more and more uncomfortable,” Mazzulla said. “Because I don’t know if I view myself. I don’t look at it that way. But to me, the mindset is having a clear understanding that you’re a part of something bigger than yourself.”

For Joe Mazzulla, that could matter even more as we approach the 2026-27 training camp, just a week away. The Eastern Conference has changed dramatically. Philadelphia added LeBron James and Jaylen Brown, while the New York Knicks enter the season stronger as defending champions.

Boston now has to prove that last year’s regular-season success was more than a temporary high point. Among the players wearing green, Payton Pritchard can make the biggest leap to the No. 2 spot in Boston’s offense. He is coming off back-to-back career years (17 points, 5.2 assists, and 3.9 rebounds) and was an excellent iso-scorer last season.

According to the Boston Herald, 57 players attempted at least 200 non-rim field goals inside the paint, and only Kevin Durant and Nikola Jokic made them at a higher rate than Pritchard’s 55.9%. After a strong scoring season like that one, Jordan’s personal message drops at the perfect time.

It is to avoid allowing past success to become an excuse to relax. Importantly, the same mentality has shown up outside basketball, too. Earlier this year, Denny Hamlin recalled Jordan challenging him after a difficult 2025 season.

“I never forget what Michael said, during the offseason, when he addressed 23XI Racing, he said, ‘What I’m interested to see, is what Denny does after what happened in Phoenix. You either pick yourself up and respond, or you fold. We’ll find out.’ Well, he’s finding out.”

The results show how much consistency Hamlin has brought into 2026. Through 29 NASCAR Cup Series races, he leads the series in top-15 finishes.

Now it’s time for Mazzulla to own the Jordan message. For a Celtics team aiming to turn another strong regular season into a deeper playoff run, that mindset could shape everything from opening night forward.