Saturday night was a tough one for the Boston Celtics—and their head coach, Joe Mazzulla, had a surprisingly philosophical take on it all.

In what stands as one of the most painful losses in franchise history, the Celtics watched a 3-1 series lead slip away in Game 7 against the Philadelphia 76ers. Joel Embiid dropped 34 points, Tyrese Maxey added 30, and Boston’s three first-time playoff starters combined for a goose egg—zero points on 0-for-7 shooting. The 109-100 defeat at TD Garden marked the first time in the franchise’s 80-season history that the Celtics blew a 3-1 lead.

But instead of pointing fingers or lamenting the collapse, Mazzulla offered a different perspective. "Too many times it's all about winning, winning, winning," he said. "You have to surrender to the idea that when you're going after that, you're gonna fail. We failed by not winning, but we stick to the process of being able to do that."

It’s a mindset that might sound odd coming from a coach who just saw his team make history for all the wrong reasons. But context matters. Mazzulla is a finalist for NBA Coach of the Year after guiding the Celtics to a 56-26 record—this despite Jayson Tatum missing 62 games while recovering from a torn Achilles. By any reasonable standard, this season was a success before Game 7 even tipped off.

Still, his starting lineup decision is going to be the talk of Boston’s offseason. With Tatum sidelined due to left knee stiffness, Mazzulla opted to start Baylor Scheierman, Ron Harper Jr., and Luka Garza alongside Jaylen Brown and Derrick White. The result? The Celtics went scoreless on their first six possessions and trailed 11-4 before the first substitution.

"I thought there was a couple things we saw tactically that we wanted to test out," Mazzulla explained. "Give the series kind of a different feel."

It didn’t work. But in Mazzulla’s view, sometimes the process matters more than the result—even when the result is a historic collapse.