Joe Mazzulla had to be held back by his assistant coaches not once, but twice Thursday night at TD Garden.

The second time occurred after the Celtics’ 117-108 loss to the Bulls had ended.

After the final horn sounded, Mazzulla walked onto the court to continue arguing with Tony Brothers and his officiating crew, which handed out technical fouls to him, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum during a contentious fourth quarter.

Assistant coaches Sam Cassell and Tony Dobbins and another Celtics staffer had to restrain Mazzulla and guide him down the tunnel toward the locker room.

According to Boston’s head coach, he was just trying to spread some holiday cheer.

“I just hadn’t seen them in a while, so (I was saying) just a Merry Christmas, happy holidays,” Mazzulla said after the game. “I wasn’t sure I was going to see them before the holiday, and I just can’t let a moment go by to where you wish someone just the best to them and theirs and their families.”

Common sense and video evidence said otherwise, but Mazzulla did not raise any issues with the refs during his postgame news conference. He said he deserved his tech because he walked onto the court after a controversial jump-ball decision that Boston disagreed with.

Brown also received a technical foul moments later. Chicago’s Zach LaVine made both technical free throws, then hit a 3-pointer after Ayo Dosunmu won the jump ball over the undersized Payton Pritchard. That caused Boston’s deficit to grow from three points to eight in a flash, and the Celtics never recovered.

Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis said he appreciated his coach’s passion.

“It was the heat of the moment, you know?” Porzingis said. “Joe’s a passionate guy. He fights for his team. He’s willing to get a tech for us. He probably felt like there were some not-so-great calls tonight, and it just happens. Joe’s a passionate guy.”