The Celtics were only six minutes and 10 seconds away from advancing to the second round of the playoffs, and they commanded a 13-point lead over an Atlanta team missing their deputy star, Dejounte Murray.
Jaylen Brown had just drained an effortless shot from behind the arc, hanging his 35th point of the game, but Hawks wing John Collins immediately responded in kind on the other end.
What ensued was a six-minute meltdown that brought back nightmares from late last spring — those same careless mistakes these Celtics proclaim have since kept them up at night.
"We took our foot off the gas, allowed Atlanta to get going, and the rest is history from there," Brown recounted postgame.
Yep. The same old history that — just like your high school teacher droned on about — continues to repeat itself.
That 24-footer from Brown would be the last points from either Jay, and the only stats they'd add in the last stretch of the game would be turnovers and fouls.
The tide on offense turned quickly for the Celtics. After three quarters with just four turnovers from the entire team, they reverted back to careless passes and loose handles that pockmarked their 2022 Finals run, coughing the ball up four times in six minutes.
Atlanta, with their backs up against the wall, bit on the chances.
"They just hit shot after shot down the line," Brown said. "You give a team life, you leave it up to chance, and that's what we did tonight."
Boston stumbled all over themselves and each other, chucking shots and missing layups. After stuffing Hawks like a bunch of taxidermists, they faltered in their transition defense. Undersized sharpshooter Trae Young posted 14 points off a trio of threes and two trips to the free-throw line.
With just over a minute and a half left and a two-point lead, Jayson Tatum collected a bizarre technical foul for swatting the ball after Al Horford committed a shooting foul on Young. He shrugged off the whistle after the game, even though it essentially created a three-point play for Young and gave the Hawks the 114-113 lead.
"You see that all the time in the regular season, guys block the shot after the whistle all the time," Tatum said. "I wasn't mad or anything, I was doing something I would do all the time in the regular season. I guess he didn't see it that way."
Marcus Smart tried to make something happen against Young, poking the ball out as both tumbled to the floor. Instead, he sent him back to the line and with less than a minute left, and fans began an expletive-laden chant at Trae Young — their attempt at a tourniquet to stop the bleeding from their beloved two seed.
They didn't know the worst was yet to come. Young silenced any hecklers with a dagger over Brown from behind the arc, sealing an unlikely 119-117 victory for the Hawks.
Faced with a trip back to Atlanta for Game 6, Brown briefly mused over what he could have done differently in the moment, before essentially handing the mirror over to his teammates for some reflection of their own.
"He stepped back and pulled one from the logo. That's a tough basket, a tough shot in the playoffs," he said. "Maybe I could have forced him towards the basket a little bit more, I could have picked him up a little bit better.
"But maybe we shouldn't have been in that position in the first place."
