Celtics loss to Hawks mixes time-of-season slog with significant concerns

Watching the Boston Celtics lose two games in a row is jarring. It’s only happened three times this season.

Watching them lose twice in a row to an Atlanta Hawks team that’s missing their All-Star point guard after blowing a 30-point lead in the first game is downright brutal.

But what can really be taken away from these games?

The Eastern Conference has been locked up, and the Celtics are in prime position to secure the title of “best record in the NBA,” too. It’s difficult to get up for meaningless games, yet the pressure of playing in Boston dictates that they do. During their two-game road trip in Atlanta, they did not.

On Thursday night, it all came down to their lackluster effort on the offensive glass.

“That’s where the game is,” Joe Mazzulla said. “You can take a look at all that, but they had 17 offensive rebounds for [28] second-chance points. That’s the game right there.”

Atlanta grabbed 17 offensive rebounds to the Celtics’ nine, outscoring them 28-8 on second-chance opportunities in a game decided by a single point.

Some of the offensive boards were unlucky, the result of long rebounds falling in the laps of Atlanta. But others were a matter of effort. The Celtics failed to mark a man and allowed them to sink their teeth into the possession.

That’s an issue of effort, and how much of that can be attributed to the time and place of the game? Are the Celtics going to play at full throttle for a meaningless game in March? Probably not. It’s ugly to watch and leaves a bad taste in fans’ mouths, but it’s not a representation of the team at its best.

The Celtics rank first in defensive rebounds per game (35.7) and 11th in the league in defensive rebounding percentage (76.3%). Giving up a million offensive rebounds hasn’t been their biggest problem this year. Not by a long shot.

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So if that can’t be extrapolated into a bigger talking point, then perhaps their defense on Dejounte Murray can, as he poured in 44 points.

But it took him 44 shots to get there.

He nailed the game-winner against Jrue Holiday, but it was contested, and one of the best perimeter defenders in the league was in his face.

“I think he had a good take,” Holiday said. “I mean, obviously, I feel like it was a difficult shot, but he had been making difficult shots all night. So, get it to the man and he knocks it down for a game-winner.”

Even when Murray was sinking tough shots over Kristaps Porzingis in overtime, that was something Boston was willing to live with.

If not for the sake of playing the best defense, then for learning and practicing for the playoffs. In a close, back-and-forth, overtime game, Boston was getting in reps for the postseason.

“We went to that on purpose,” Mazzulla said. “We have an opportunity to practice stuff that we’re going to need to get to, and we haven’t done a lot of 15, one-through-five switching with KP on the floor. So, I thought that was a good opportunity for us to just work on that and get reps in that and get it on film.”

So, would the Celtics get burned that way in the playoffs? Or would they go to something else? Or is this the practice that will help Porzingis perform better when challenging guards off the dribble?

Murray came up big for the Hawks, but he was inefficient. Mazzulla was pleased with Boston’s defense on him, and even when he was cooking them in OT, it was partially so they could get some experience in a defense he wants to have in his toolbox.

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If there’s anything that can be significantly pulled from this game, it’s the late-game offense, which continues to spawn question marks. Just a few days after coming up short after blowing a 30-point lead, they went to a similar play design.

“Give JT the ball and have him make a play for us,” Mazzulla said.

Tatum is one of the best players in the world. There are few players he can’t take one-on-one. His scoring arsenal is up there with the best in the NBA. But with the amount of talent on this Celtics team, the bare minimum should be to at least run some sort of action with Tatum at the center.

Perhaps Boston is saving their best stuff for the playoffs. Or perhaps they are completely fine living and dying with Tatum. But the latter seems crazy.

“I know I’ve missed a couple this year,” Tatum said of his end-of-game shots. “So I was like, ‘Damn, I gotta be due for one.’ I’ve hit a bunch of them in my career so far, but that’s part of it. Make or miss league. But I really do enjoy being in those situations.”

Tatum absolutely deserves some blame for the plays. He could go faster, he could drive harder, he could work to find his spots more effectively. But at the same time, if the play is just to let him do his thing, that’s not ideal.

Keeping the floor spaced is one thing, but having four All-Star-caliber players standing around while one plays pick-up basketball in the middle of the floor seems like a waste of talent.

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So, in overtime, Boston switched it up. They gave the ball to Kristaps Porzingis in the post, and he found Jaylen Brown at the elbow. Brown still had to take a tough shot, as most shots in the final 30 seconds are going to be contested, but he sunk it.

Mazzulla noted that they went to different plays for different situations, saying Tatum’s iso was for a tie game while the latter was because they were down, but the results speak for themselves.

Of all the lessons learned from the Atlanta road trip, the late-game offense seems to be the easiest to grow from and the most obvious error.

A lack of boxing out can be fixed with effort. That will come in the playoffs. Murray torching the Celtics was ugly, but he took 44 shots, and they tested out a defense they wanted to run. The Tatum isos are still a problem. They seem unfair to him, unfair to the rest of the team, and completely unfounded by the results from this season.

But hey, maybe Mazzulla has a file saved on his computer labeled, “Don’t show until the playoffs.”