The Boston Celtics tested the limits of living and dying by the three-point shot, and the results against the lowly Atlanta Hawks were ugly.
“They outplayed us in every facet of the game,” coach Joe Mazzulla said after the 117-116 loss.
The loss was the first matchup in the NBA Cup, the league’s sophomore attempt at an in-season tournament that culminates in a championship game in Las Vegas with cash prizes on the line.
Outside of three-point shooting, Atlanta won nearly every other row in the box score.
“They got rebounds and layups on everybody, big small medium, they just outplayed us,” Mazzulla said.
The product on the court was a mess from tip-off. Both teams started out 1-6 and 1-8 from behind the arc. Without seeing the ball into the hoop, the World Champs looked utterly flat against a team with a losing record – and without their star player, Trae Young.
“Our starts have been pretty bad, so that’s on us, the starting five,” Derrick White said after the game. “It’s not really like us to come out and have to question our readiness, with the group we have. We have to be better to start.”
Atlanta dominated the boards, 54-34, ticked more assists, and accumulated more steals. They had the edge in every kind of point besides from behind the arc: fast break, second-chance, in the paint, and from the bench.
It truly looked like an experiment in how far three-point analytics could take a team failing in every other category. Turns out, winning there will keep the league’s best team in a nail-biter against a mediocre opponent.
Please, let’s not subject this outcome to the scientific method through repeated trials.
The team had a motor from Jaylen Brown, particularly when three-pointers weren’t falling in the first quarter. But Brown finished the night with six turnovers. Together with Jayson Tatum, they accounted for more than half of the team’s uncharacteristically high 20 giveaways. It’s the kind of stat that wouldn’t have surprised back in 2022, but it’s an ugly blemish on the duo’s recent composure.
"Me and JT got to be better," Brown said postgame, citing the stat himself.
Boston’s defense didn’t help matters. Where they looked flustered by the Hawks’ length and physicality, they were also mostly incapable of stopping anyone from getting to the rim on their own end.
It’s unfortunate and annoying how Boston couldn’t get into this game. Boston led by as much as 15 points after finding a nice groove in the second quarter. They let Atlanta hang around for too long and looked like a team who assumed they’d just shoot their way back ahead at the very end of the game.
Unfortunately, the ending fit the game. Mess around and find out. An inbounded pass grazed off Tatum’s fingertips, and even after a turnover on Atlanta’s end, there were no final-second heroics from Brown off a 13-foot launch.
The next time the Celtics lay out the jumbo-sized green parquet floor, they’ll be hosting the unbeaten Cleveland Cavaliers. Hopefully, Boston’s experimental phase is done.