BOSTON — The Celtics have plenty of basketball ahead of them as the season is just a few weeks old. But the reigning champs have hit their version of a mini-slump over the past few games. The most recent data point was a 117-116 loss to the Hawks on Tuesday as the C‘s weren’t able to overcome a shorthanded-yet-physical Atlanta team.
It‘s been a recent trend for the Celtics amid some struggles. They lost to the Warriors at home last week. Then they followed that up with two wins over the Nets and Bucks, though they fell behind 16-2 in both games as they had to put together comeback wins. So the recent play hasn’t been up to their lofty standards, though they did pick up wins despite anyway over that stretch.
“I think those two games we started down like (16-2),” Jayson Tatum said. “As starters, we’ve gotta start the game better. Today, the first quarter wasn’t great but second quarter we picked it up. We just let go of the rope to end the third and to start the fourth and it gave them life. And we just made it a little harder.”
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C‘s coach Joe Mazzulla was blunt after the loss, saying the Hawks outplayed his team and that the visitors deserved to win. The Celtics didn‘t have that gusto throughout Tuesday’s game as the Hawks were physical all night. Atlanta put up 68 points in the paint and grabbed 20 offensive rebounds, leading to an 18-7 edge in second-chance points.
The start wasn‘t necessarily the problem Tuesday as the teams battled through a close game. But as Tatum pointed out, the Celtics weren‘t able to keep the Hawks from putting together the comeback effort in the second half. While a 15-point lead isn‘t much in the modern NBA, the C‘s still weren’t able to maintain that advantage.
C‘s star Jaylen Brown, who has returned for the past two games, pointed to the team‘s turnovers — pinpointing the blame on himself and Tatum. The two combined for 11 of the team‘s 20 turnovers as the game’s rhythm made it difficult to keep up. The Celtics have an opportunity to bounce-back starting with a 7:30 p.m. Wednesday game in Brooklyn against the Nets. That should be a solid test for the C’s as they were pushed by the Nets last week as a young team will look to knock off the defending champs after coming so close.
“Mentally, we were careless tonight,” Brown said “We expected to win. Too careless and it showed. I think the No. 1 category it showed in is our turnovers. Uncharacteristic of us to have 20 turnovers in any circumstance. I think that just displayed that we weren’t in sync like we normally are, so we’ve got to be better at that, and I’ve got to be better at that.”
