This was not a great night. The Celtics completely abandoned their usual defensive principles and the Hawks tore them to shreds with pick and roll after pick and roll. Defensively the Hawks forced nearly two dozen Celtics turnovers that left the C’s scrambling for any semblance of an offense. Amazingly the Celtics were not only in this game, they held leads for most of it… but the Hawks pulled away late and went on to win 109-101
The first 3 minutes of this game was putrid… so bad that Mike Gorman quipped on air “have these guys met?” But after not scoring for the first 3 minutes, the Celtics whipped off 12 over the next 80 seconds. They scored 18 points in a quick 4 minute stretch but then went dormant again, not scoring again for another 4 minutes. Luckily for them, they whipped off a quick 5 points over the final minute of the quarter to take a 25-19 lead. This was an ugly quarter for Boston.. they turned it over EIGHT times and gave up 16 points in the paint.
The second quarter was… horrible. The Celtics shot less than 28% and they turned it over 5 more times. Still, they had a 10 point lead with 3:49 to go but the Hawks went on a 13-4 run to finish the quarter, which included a terribly defended Hawks pick-and-roll that led to a dunk, followed by Isaiah Thomas picking up his 3rd foul on a charge at half court. Amazingly, the Celtics still led by one at the half.
The same story continued in the third… the teams went back and forth with Thomas and Jae Crowder carrying the entire offense and the Hawks pick-and-rolling the Celtics to death. Crowder went nuts in the 3rd, scoring 15 points to carry the Celtics. The Celtics scored 30 in the quarter, but only Crowder, Thomas, and Sullinger scored.
The fourth had its high points for the Celtics. RJ Hunter hit a couple of 3’s to give the Celtics a 5 point lead. Evan Turner hit a 15 footer to make it 90-84 Boston with 5:24 left. And then it all went to absolute shit. Basically it was pick and roll after pick and roll after pick and roll… and a 25-11 run to finish the game ended it and handed the Celtics a 3-game losing streak.
The Green
Jae Crowder had a career-high 24 points, 15 of which I already mentioned came in the 3rd.
Isaiah Thomas could not be stopped… 29 points on 6-12 shooting and 14-15 free throws. Those are James Harden numbers.
RJ Hunter hit a couple of nice 3’s and he continues to grab rebounds out there. He didn’t play a lot, but I really think he’s going to grow into a pretty good player.
The Gross
What on earth has happened to Avery Bradley? He’s had 2 straight crappy games after people started trying to make an All Star case for him. 4 points tonight on 2-8 shooting and his defense was ok at best.
I swear to God… David Lee and Evan Turner are plotting to kill me with their play on the floor. If it’s not one, it’s the other.. and when they’re both playing poorly… Lee was 3-11 for 6 points. Turner was 3-8 for 8 points. I just can’t deal with these guys. I can’t
Kelly Olynyk can be so good if he wants to. Like really, I see it. I’m not making shit up… I swear I can see it. But maybe he’s just the next Jeff Green… a guy who makes just enough tantalizing plays to keep you hooked, but really isn’t ever going to be more than what he is. I scream at him multiple times a game to shoot the damn ball… but it just doesn’t look like he wants to be that aggressive type of offensive player sometimes.
I wrote these words earlier today:
By the way, let’s not forget about Dennis Schroder, who isn’t necessarily a make-or-break guy if he’s off, but can be a huge help to them if he’s on. Don’t let him be a difference maker off the bench.
All he did was lead the Hawks with 22 points in 28 minutes off the bench, while adding 5 assists and 4 steals. A notoriously bad shooter shot 53% from the floor, 50% from 3, and 100% from the line. Nice job, Celtics.
Brad Stevens needs to take some heat for the way the Celtics played tonight, right? They changed how they guarded the pick and roll and it was an abject failure. What happened to all ice defense and forcing guys to the sidelines? I know you can maybe pick-and-pop your way out that but that has to be a better option than how it went tonight. The Hawks had 68 points in the paint. SIXTY EIGHT POINTS IN THE PAINT!!!!! That’s an insane number.
The Greenlights
At least this happened…
Kelly Olynyk with the alley- oop dunk! pic.twitter.com/9JMMjZrS5P
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) December 19, 2015
Hunter for 3:
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The Grid
- Points in the paint: Atlanta-68 Boston-36
- Second chance points: Atlanta-16 Boston-10
- Rebounds: Atlanta-42 Boston 43
- Turnovers: Atlanta 13 Boston-22
The Celtics needed to keep Atlanta under 100 points, and they didn’t. They gave up 67 second half points, and 38 in the 4th quarter alone.
I also said in the preview:
No second-chance points tonight. That’s going to be a killer.
And the Celtics got outscored there too.
This was another sloppy game, and the Celtics have gone from the darlings of the NBA to the “I can’t believe I believed in those guys” team. This isn’t the first stretch they’ve had like this, and I’m sure they have a return to glory coming soon, but this is some pretty bad basketball right now, and they’ve got make some changes. This is on everyone from the coach on down to Tyler Zell… wait no, he’s probably the only guy this isn’t on. He needs to play to take some responsibility.
C’mon Brad.. give Zeller Lee’s minutes so we can all move on here.
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