Preview: Boston Celtics at Atlanta Hawks Game 2

The Celtics look to rebound from their tough Game 1 loss and take one in Atlanta before heading home

It seems that the Boston Celtics can’t put together a full game lately. On Saturday night, the Celtics couldn’t make a shot in the first half and were down by 17 heading into halftime. They were later able to flip the script in the second half after a bold move by Brad Stevens to start Evan Turner over Amir Johnson, to open the half, paid off. The Celtics even held a three-point lead at one point, however, they weren’t able to hang on and fell 102-101 to the Atlanta Hawks.

The loss wasn’t the worse thing to happen to the Celtics on Saturday. The injury bug has been nice to Boston the entire season, although on Saturday it finally hit. Avery Bradley went down with a terrible-looking hamstring injury in the fourth quarter. He wasn’t able to walk off on his own power and now it seems unlikely that he’ll return this series.

Kelly Olynyk wasn’t effective in the first half of Game 1 but that could partly be due to his shoulder. He tweaked his right shoulder, the same shoulder he injured right before the all-star break, and only played 12 minutes in the loss. Right now Olynyk is questionable and despite only scoring two points in 12 minutes, Boston isn’t in position to lose key guys off the bench.

Marcus Smart is dealing with a bruised knuckle, however, he returned to practice on Monday and should be good to go on Tuesday night. Smart is expected to see an increased role off the bench with Avery Bradley set to miss the series.

Boston’s focus has to be on getting into the lane early and often. Atlanta’s bigs proved to be too much early as the Celtics were forced into tough jump shots and it resulted in a very poor shooting night. The Celtics finished the game shooting 36.3 percent from the field and Smart was the only player to shoot at least 50 percent from the field with at least five attempts on Saturday (5-10).

Smart’s scoring proved to be a huge spark off the bench for the Celtics, scoring 15 points. His solid production during Game 1 gives Brad Stevens a tough choice between starting him or Evan Turner.

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Turner gave the Celtics a huge spark at the start of the second half and finished with 10 points, eight rebounds and five assists. His ability to run the point forward and spread the floor, more than Amir Johnson, opened up a lot of lanes for Boston and allowed them to get out in transition. He did struggle from the field (4-of-13) but his second half start makes it seem like Stevens is leaning towards him.

Smart will definitely get more run after his solid offensive showing and the defense he has shown all season. Boston was able to shut down Kyle Korver (1-of-10 from the field and 0-of-7 from three) but Kent Bazemore picked up the slack. The small forward is having the best season of his career and his 23 points came out of nowhere. Trusting that Korver doesn’t get going, the Celtics will most likely look towards Smart as their way to slow down Bazemore.

Next: Celtics Need Avery Bradley's Defense

Boston didn’t play well in Game 1. They looked inexperienced and had no answer to the Hawks’ gameplan. Jeff Teague outplayed Isaiah Thomas and the frontcourt of Atlanta was too much for Jared Sullinger and Amir Johnson. Even though Boston was able to figure it out in the second half, their inability to play a complete game still haunts them. There aren’t going to be any easy wins in the playoffs and if Brad Stevens wants that first career playoff win, he’ll need to speed up the game.

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