Without a doubt, squandering a 30-point lead against a shorthanded Hawks team missing seven key players, including Trae Young, Jalen Johnson, Onyeka Okungwu, and Saddiq Bey, is a glaring misstep, regardless of the circumstances — even without Derrick White and Jrue Holiday.
However, is that one loss enough to change the narrative surrounding a team many consider to be title favorites? Especially when that team has already clinched the Eastern Conference and is 11.0 games ahead of the team in second place -- Additionally, said team has an average margin of victory of 11.5 points per game and has held more 30-point leads (16) than 10-point deficits (14) this season?
In Kendrick Perkins’s eyes, it is. The former Celtics big man believes the Celtics are “vulnerable” and teams “don’t fear” Boston.
“If you are a scout for a team that may have to face the Celtics in the Eastern Conference, at the top of your list in the scouting report, you are writing ‘vulnerable.’ They are very vulnerable,” Perkins said on ESPN’s NBA Today.
“When you look at this recipe, and they continue to shoot threes, the ball continues to get staggered, and especially when they’re in close games, this is a habit. And teams are looking at them and saying, ‘You know what? If we do those things, we actually could beat them,’ and they do not fear the Boston Celtics.”
Considering the Celtics are 38-8 against teams in the Eastern Conference, the idea that teams do not fear them is a bit of a stretch. As for their three-point shooting, that has been one of their biggest strengths, posting a +819 scoring advantage on the perimeter this season and a 44-4 record when they make more threes than their opponents.
While it’s undeniable that the team’s performance suffers on nights when their three-point shots aren’t falling, the Celtics rarely encounter such dire shooting displays, as they’ve shot under 30% in just 11 of their 72 games (15.2%).
A 30-point blow lead doesn’t get swept under the rug, though. For the Celtics, it taught them two lessons.
1.) Playoffs will require attention to detail night in and night out for an entire 48 minutes.
2.) The late-game execution needs to be better, and slowing things down typically isn’t a good thing.
“You win, or you learn,” Kristaps Porzingis said after the game. “We expect to win every game, but I like that we have some bumps heading into the postseason.”
While you never want to be on the wrong end of a blown 30-point lead, Monday night was a humbling lesson for the Celtics ahead of what they hope will be a long postseason run.
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