Full disclosure: I had a recap written midway through the 4th quarter. At that point the Celtics were down 14, they were shooting less than 30%, and the Hawks are the Hawks. This game was over.
I completely believed that. So did the Hawks.
Because the Hawks decided the 7:43 mark of the 4th quarter was the right time to start their All Star break, because after that the Celtics outscored Atlanta 24-9 and shocked the best team in the NBA… winning 89-88.
The Celtics came out so cold that people went outside to warm up after the first quarter. The final numbers: 18.5% in the 1st quarter, 1-11 (9%) from 3. That happened. There’s nothing we can do to pretend it never happened. We’re just going to have to live with this stain on our memories. Amazingly, they were only down 10. Moving on…
Opened the second on a 10-3 run but the Hawks eventually answered with a 10-2 run a few minutes later to push the lead to 18 at the TV timeout. The halftime lead would be 15. The Celtics went into the half shooting 24.5%.
The Celtics came out with a new lineup to start the second, with Thornton on the floor with Brandon Bass with Sullinger, Bradley, and Evan Turner. It worked well enough, thanks to Thornton and Jared Sullinger, to cut the lead down to 8. The end of quarter lead would be 11 after the 3rd. Sully had 11 in the quarter.
The Hawks lead grew to 14 midway through the 4th, but the Celtics pulled off an 8-0 run to cut it to 6 with just under 6 to go. It was part of a larger 20-9 run that saw the Celtics cut the lead down to 1. There were plenty of moments where it looked like a great Celtics effort would end up getting wasted, and I’d end up using terminology like “they dug too deep a hole.” But every time the Hawks had a chance to crush the Celtics dreams, weird shit happened like Kyle Korver missing a free throw. Even after Jared Sullinger missed a great opportunity to take a lead with :35 left, the Hawks didn’t close the door on the other end, leaving the door open for Evan Turner to do this with .02 left on the clock.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOzg1jMAcaI]The Green:
Well, I should start with the absolute refusal to quit, despite having every reason in the world to lay down and just go into the All Star break as another victim of the Hawks steamroller. However, they didn’t, and that’s a big deal to me. I’ve written a lot of words on this site about creating a winning culture and these wins being a reward for hard work… and it’s happening. Will this mean anything to the Hawks in the long run? I doubt it. But it will mean a lot to the Celtics. It will mean a lot to Brad Stevens. And even though we’ll forget about this game two years from now when the Celtics are, we hope, an up-and-coming team that has the ability to make a playoff run, maybe one of us will think back to this little lesson learned against the #1 team in the NBA. They say the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. Efforts like this are one of those steps.
The decision to start Thornton in the 2nd half paid off big time. He scored 14 off the bench, but his stretch early in the 3rd quarter when he came out and made sure the Celtics still had some life was crucial.
Sully was a beast in the 2nd half: 15 of his 17 came in the 2nd half. So did 9 of his 15 rebounds.
Gotta give credit to Evan Turner, of course, for coming up with a big game. He was the only starter to hit anything early on, and he obviously hit the game-winner. Even though his box score won’t wow you, he was there when needed.
Despite bad shooting nights, Avery Bradley and Marcus Smart each hit crucial baskets down the stretch.
The Gross:
Oh, but don’t get me wrong, though, they had horrific shooting nights. They were a combined 7-25 (3-12 3pt).
I’m going to call this gross from a basketball standpoint, even though it was great for the Celtics…
Late in the 4th, the Hawks forced a turnover, and Kyle Korver had a step on his defender, and the angle to get to the rim. But, today’s NBA being what it is, and he being who he is, he almost ran over that defender to get to the corner for a potential transition 3. The play resulted in a turnover. But again, Korver, who could have gotten a pass for a lay up or foul, actually collided with his defender trying to get from the middle of the floor to the corner. I know there’s more emphasis than ever on the 3, but that play killed the basketball purist in me. Sometimes you just have to make a smart play.
The Greenlights
James Young gets a second chance and drills the 3
Prince to Bradley
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.jsJae Crowder with the rejection https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
Marcus Thornton with the…block?
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.jsThe Grid
- In a weird statistical anomaly, the Celtics shot 32.3% from the field, and from 3
- Fastbreak points: Atlanta: 17-4
- Second chance points: Boston: 23-6
- Bench points: Boston: 34-27
Freudian Slip, Mike?
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
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