The Celtics failed to emphasise lead safety when it mattered essentially the most towards a Trae Younger-less Hawks crew on Monday evening, turning a possible 10-game Boston successful streak right into a much-needed studying lesson.
With an already-secured No. 1 seed within the Jap Convention, the Celtics don’t have a lot left to play for moreover sustaining the precise momentum. And for practically half of regulation that’s precisely what Boston conveyed, toying with an undermanned Atlanta crew to take a 30-point lead halfway by means of the second quarter. Usually, that indicators a well-earned early clock-out for Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, however that was far from the case at State Farm Area.
The Celtics allowed the Hawks to battle again and escape with a 120-118 win, turning the closing seconds of the fourth quarter right into a nail-biting race to the end line. On the identical evening by which Boston opened the primary quarter with a 44-point outpour to maintain Atlanta at bay, the Celtics adopted by scoring 44 factors within the third and fourth quarters, marking their weakest second-half response recorded this season.
“We bought off to a very good begin, nevertheless it’s a superb lesson,” Celtics head coach Joe Mazulla informed reporters, per NBC Sports activities Boston. “You let a crew cling round and so they made these margin performs. Factors off turnovers, 3-pointers, offensive rebounds and credit score to them for battling again.”
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Mazzulla added: “We performed them final yr within the (playoffs), it was these margins. It was defend the 3-point line. It was limiting them to at least one shot and I believe we nonetheless outshot them so it’s bizarre. We simply gotta be taught from that.”
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Boston was with out Jrue Vacation and utilized minimal defensive urgency, giving the Hawks the inexperienced mild to push the Celtics to their restrict. Atlanta’s DeAndre Hunter put the nail in Boston’s coffin, draining a game-sealing three to place the Hawks up 4 factors with 9.2 seconds left in regulation. Nevertheless, that resulted from three Celtics gamers failing to safe a defensive rebound towards Clint Capela within the sport’s greatest second.
That play completely summarized Boston’s negligence in sustaining an enormous double-digit lead by taking part in on each side from begin to end. It offered the Celtics with a deja vu expertise to final season’s playoff sequence with the Hawks by which Boston allowed a considerably much less gifted Atlanta crew to push a first-round matchup to 6 video games.
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There’s no leeway for excuses this go-around for performances alike to creep their manner into this yr’s playoff hunt, and the crew is aware of that.
Boston went 0-for-0 from three within the third quarter then 1-of-6 within the fourth, ending an inefficient 11-of-38 (28.9%) by the ultimate buzzer.
“We simply took our foot off the fuel and so they simply bought confidence, and at that time, it’s powerful to beat anyone once they bought it rolling,” Brown stated postgame, per NBC Sports activities Boston. “… I believe we’ve got the precise method, we’ve had the precise method. Tonight wasn’t the perfect instance of that. We form of took our fingers off the steering wheel a bit of bit. And irrespective of if we up 30 (factors) or we down 5, we gotta have the identical method and the identical mindset.”
Even after the stunning collapse, Boston owns an NBA-best 57-15 document, however can’t succumb to the unhealthy habits that prevented them from returning to the Finals final season.
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