Celts go under on subs
Valueless game gets backups
With the Eastern Conference’s second playoff seed already secure, the idea was to work on playoff flow and give the lesser-used young guys valuable minutes.
Marcus Morris was given a rest day against Atlanta, the worst team in the conference, and the Celtics spent most of the afternoon toying with a decent but not impregnable lead.
The stage was thus set for an upset of sorts, even if Brad Stevens elected to go with his reserves down the stretch in yesterday’s 112106 loss to the Hawks.
Though six Celtics finished in double figures, led by Jayson Tatum’s 19-point performance, none had an answer for Hawks forward Taurean Prince, who finished with 33 points and shot 7-for-8 from downtown, making his first seven 3-pointers.
Brad Stevens intentionally sat starters Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Al Horford, Terry Rozier and Aron Baynes down the stretch, opting for a rotation of reserves headed by Greg Monroe (17 points, 7-for-8 from the field, four assists) and Shane Larkin (six points, seven assists).
And after leading by as many as 13 points (91-78) early in the fourth quarter, the Celtics fell to a Princeled assault down the stretch.
Atlanta’s lowly status notwithstanding, a narrow Celtics collapse was somewhat predictable with rookies like Jabari Bird, Semi Ojeleye, Abdel Nader and Jonathan Gibson entrusted with protecting the above lead.
But when someone brought up the stars who are no longer active — Kyrie Irving, Marcus Smart, Daniel Theis and Gordon Hayward — Monroe grew a little impatient.
Though Smart still has a chance of being available if the Celtics reach the second round, the lineup on the floor yesterday will be the one on the scoresheet for Game 1 of the first round.
“People haven’t answered all these questions already?” Monroe asked about the Irving and Smart queries.
“These guys . . . Listen, they’re hurt. Obviously, we want them with us. We wish them a speedy recovery. We still have to play the games. It’s very unfortunate, but guys are still trying to win games.
“Are we supposed to come out here and give up because they’re hurt?” added Monroe. “Like, the same focus. Those guys are telling us to have the same focus. That’s how it is. You don’t have to keep on harping on those guys being injured. It’s unfortunate, it happens, but guys are still going to come out here and try to win the game, point blank, period.”
After some close calls in the third quarter, when Atlanta twice cut the Celtics lead to a point, and uncorked a 9-0 run to boot, the Celtics opened up some space with a 7-0 run early in the fourth for a 91-78 lead.
And still the Hawks had something left, answering with a 9-0 run that cut the Celtics lead to four points, before Larkin stopped the bleeding with a floater.
But as Prince scored eight straight Atlanta points, including his sixth and seventh 3-pointers without a downtown miss, the Hawks continued to get close, until Mike Muscala’s four-point play tied the game at 99-99 with 5:32 left.
The Hawks forward was fouled by Ojeleye while draining a 3-pointer. Damion Lee tied the score again at 101-101 from long distance with 4:13 left.
Monroe broke the tie with 2:20 left when he tipped in an Abdel Nader miss, and again with a free throw with 1:46 left following an Isaiah Taylor drive.
But Dewayne Dedmon then gave the Hawks the lead twice — first with a corner triple and then, after a Gibson 15-footer, with a dunk off the baseline for a 108-106 edge.
Larkin missed a 3-point attempt, Taylor drove for a four-point Atlanta lead, and the next two times down the Celtics fired blanks with a Gibson air ball and another Larkin miss. John Collins was fouled with 8.8 seconds left and sealed the game with two free throws.
But Stevens’ purpose — to give crunch time minutes to his reserves — was fulfilled. Ojeleye had his finest scoring night as a Celtic, with 13 points on 5-for-7 shooting, including 3-for-3 from deep.
“Well, that was the point of playing guys that we don’t usually play late,” said Stevens. “And I thought some guys did some really good things. I thought Semi was obviously playing with a lot of confidence on the offensive end, which we need him to, to continue to soar with what he does best. But, you know, be able to take advantage of defenses that are really helping off of him. And then Jayson, obviously, he’s done it all year. He’s been really good all year.”