Celtics drop game, streak
Best team in NBA loses 30-point lead
atLanta — the celtics believed they were past these types of collapses, these games where they play their best and worst within mere minutes. they apparently aren’t, because the celtics looked unquestionably like the nBa’s best team for 18 minutes monday night only to look completely futile for the final 30.
after building a 30-point lead, looking playoff ready and with threes splashing, the celtics completely lost their focus and energy, allowing the hawks to claw all the way back and hand them a disheartening 120-118 loss at state farm arena that put an end to a ninegame winning streak.
the celtics had their chances to seal it, but Jayson tatum turned the ball over and Jaylen Brown followed with a missed 3-pointer on two critical late-game possessions. Dejounte murray put the hawks ahead for good with a layup with a minute left.
trailing by 1, the celtics got a late defensive stop but clint capela grabbed atlanta’s 15th offensive rebound and fed to De’andre hunter, who canned a dagger 3-pointer with 9.2 seconds left.
Boston, led by tatum’s 37 points, scored 44 points in the second half after rolling up 49 in the first 13 minutes. the offense couldn’t score consistently and the defense couldn’t get consistent stops in the second half.
atlanta outscored the celtics, 6644, after halftime, with Boston missing 14 of 15 3-point attempts.
moreover, the celtics stopped moving the ball, with only four assists to 20 made baskets. after leading the nBa in point differential and pounding lesser opponents for most of the season, they have now yielded leads of 22 and 30 points in the past three weeks. they led the cavaliers, 93-71, with nine minutes left march 5 before losing in the final seconds.
monday’s loss conjures memories of celtics teams in the recent past that blew leads and played to the level of lesser teams. With a critical postseason approaching, losses such as these raises concerns about
whether the celtics can consistently put away opponents and win closer games.
In the locker room, the players didn’t appear alarmed about their collapse but realize it’s something they have to monitor. the lead was 68-38 with 4:23 left in the second period after an Al Horford 3pointer. the Hawks countered with an 18-6 run to end the half, and then continued their surge in the second half with a 19-4 run, sparked by the likes of journeymen such as Vit Krejci and ex-celtic bruno fernando.
the Hawks hit 11 threes in the second half. the celtics hit one.
“We was up 30, and kind of took our foot off the gas,” brown (24 points) said. “We got a little casual. We got a little distracted and it cost us. We’ve had the right approach; tonight wasn’t the best example of that.
“We kind of took our hands off the steering wheel, no matter up 30 or down 5, we [have to] have the same approach and same mind-set. that’s going to be a challenge for us going into the last stretch of the season, knowing we secured the Eastern conference and No. 1 seed, but we’ve still got to work on us.”
this breakdown was unexpected considering how stellar the celtics played through the first 18 minutes. they jumped the Hawks with crisp passing, 3-point shooting, and by attacking the rim before beginning to settle late in the first half.
“We got off to a really good start, but it’s a good lesson that you let a team hang around and they made some margin plays,” coach Joe mazzulla said. “Stuff like that is going to happen. We have to learn how to manage it, managing runs. they defended us pretty well and I thought we missed some really good looks. credit to them for their physicality.
“When you let guys hang around, allow different role players to make high-energy plays, no matter who you’re playing in the NbA, once it gets close, anything could happen. they shoot 50 percent from three, it changes everything in the game. We shot [29] percent.”
Sam Hauser was the main culprit, missing eight of his 10 3-point attempts.
the celtics needed one bucket to close it out, but tatum was stripped by murray near the top of the key, starting a Hawks fast break that ended with a bogdan bogdanovic 3pointer for a 1-point lead with 1:34 to play.
the teams then traded baskets before brown forced a three late in the shot clock, setting up the Hawks’ clinching basket. tatum was the lone celtic to record an assist in the fourth quarter as the celtics relied heavily on iso-ball and late shot-clock offense.
“It doesn’t happen a lot, we kind of let our foot off the gas in the second half and they got in a great rhythm and we turned the ball over a little bit,” tatum said. “It’s a tough pill to swallow. We want to win every game we play. for us, people think we never should lose and we was up a lot. We [expletive] the game up and we know that. We’re all adults and professionals. We know we didn’t do the things necessarily to win.”