The Celtics had an opportunity to effectively end their first round series last night.
I loved that streak and am sad to see it end.
Now there are a few ways to look at this game, and I think all are valid.
They blew a chance to end the series
2.
Their defense and lack of rebounding lost them the game
3.
The Hawks had the best shooting performance in their franchise history
4.
Everything is still fine
Would we all have preferred a sweep?
I don’t think that’s really a hot take.
Do the Celts still have a chance to end this series in 5 games?
So everyone take a deep breath.
This was the first time all season they’ve beaten the Celtics.
Here’s the first test of adversity.
There’s nothing wrong with that, as long as you respond like you should.
It’s a mix if that makes any sense.
With that said, let’s dive in.
For the most part, Smart stepped up.
It wasn’t just his 24 points, it was the fact that they came on 47/41% shooting.
Defensively he more than held his own, allowing just 10 points in all of his matchups.
The brutal miss of course was this guy in the 4th quarter
but overall Brogdon gave more than enough.
There was no finger-pointing, there was no avoiding anything.
That’s the sign of a healthy mindset/locker room.
- Everything we like to see from this team offensively showed up last night.
Over 120 points, over 20 3PM.
over 30 AST, under 13 TOs.
What this does, it point to the larger issue, which we’ll get to.
The Celts did pretty much everything you could ask for.
They made their shots, they moved the ball, and they took care of the ball.
If they continue to play like this, history says they’ll be fine.
It sucks they lost of course, but Joe did not seem overwhelmed by the moment.
- Alright let’s move on.
The Bad
- So if the Celts were so good offensively, what the fuck happened?
It’s rather simple.
In basketball, you have to play offense AND defense.
When you do one and not the other, you tend to lose.
Here’s what I mean.
We’ve seen the Celts have some pretty lifeless defensive performances where they get absolutely worked on that end.
That’s not really what last night was.
They didn’t play lifeless defense.
That’s 40% of their shots, which is pretty good.
The Hawks bench finished with 44 points on 16-22 (8-10) shooting.
Probably not, and it’s why you’ve got the option to’t overreact all that much.
Bogdanovic was 3-3 on tight coverage, including shit like this
Like….you live with that.
Tip your cap and move on.
The contested FGA stuff is an area you mostly throw away.
But there were also signs of concerns that I think are more real, and need to be addressed.
In the first two games, the Celts were much better at guarding P&R and isolation.
It was a disaster.
In P&R, Trae had Al in hell.
It gave me some shades of Steph in the Finals if we’re being honest.
- 11-16 from the FT line in a game you lost by 8.
Make or miss league sometimes I guess.
- As good as the team was from deep in the first half, that did not carry over.
Add in Brogdon’s 0-2, and a 1-15 half from those guys usually spells trouble.
Once we got to the 4th, the Celts shot 3-14 from deep in those 12 minutes.
- It never really felt like Jaylen was able to snap out of his foul trouble issues.
His efficiency was fine, but he wasn’t nearly aggressive enough for my liking.
The Ugly
- Now the #1 reason the Celts lost this game.
We talked about it heading into the series.
We talked about it after the Hawks had 14 OREB in Game 1.
We talked about it after the Hawks had 19 OREB in Game 2.
Shit like this simply cannot happen in a playoff game.
Grab the fucking ball.
If you don’t, this is what happens
That huge Trae Young 3PM with about 2:22 left?
It came after the Celts were unable to secure a rebound.
Rebounding is about effort, and in every game this series the Hawks have dominated on the offensive glass.
It’s that simple.
- This game really came down to 2 different stretches.
As we know, it doesn’t matter what you do offensively if you might’t get stops.
In the playoffs, it’s about stops.
If you don’t defend, you die.
They had an opportunity to bury this team, and instead, the Hawks now have some life.
Sunday provides another opportunity to squash that life and take a 3-1 lead back to their own building.
