Preview: Boston Celtics vs Atlanta Hawks Game 3

The Boston Celtics hope they can find some magic at home

Leaving Atlanta down 2 games to none is not what the Boston Celtics wanted. It’s not uncommon for an away team to get down in the series early, however, the fashion the Celtics lost the first two games were mind-boggling. The Hawks were able to control the first two games and responded to whatever Boston was trying to force them to do. Atlanta’s frontcourt play was dominating and the Hawks forced Boston to become a jump-shooting team.

Brad Stevens was frantically searching for a lineup that worked early in Game 2 – even resorting to rookie R.J. Hunter. It was a mess of a game and there weren’t many positives to take away from it. On offense, it was all bad. On defense, they were able to continue to shut down Paul Millsap, but another wing player had a big night for the Hawks – this time Kyle Korver.

Heading into Game 3, Brad Stevens and the Celtics need to find something that works. Their defense hasn’t been horrible throughout the first two games, although their offense has been anything but well-run.

Isaiah Thomas is forcing too many passes and shots. It seems like he’s trying to take over the game and doing too much instead of letting them game come to him and trying to find a flow for the offense. His shot has also disappeared in the playoffs and he’s shooting 33.3 percent from the field. He is taking a lot more threes because of the defensive wall of Al Horford and Paul Millsap inside.

It has forced Boston into becoming a jump shooting team and resulted in the Celtics attempting 31.5 threes per game over the first couple of games. Thomas leads the team with 16 threes thus far, although Marcus Smart is right behind him at 12 total, despite only going 1-of-6 in Game 2. Either way, Boston thrives on getting to the basket, not attempting jump shot after jump shot after jump shot.

It’s easy to point fingers at players and say what they need to do. In reality, no one on the Celtics is playing good basketball right now. Jae Crowder looks atrocious on offense and Jared Sullinger shouldn’t be given more than 15 minutes a night with the way he’s playing.

The list goes on and on, however, when you’re relying on Terry Rozier, Amir Johnson and Evan Turner, there will most likely be problems. Everyone on the Celtics that played a significant role in the regular season hasn’t been able to get anything going in the playoffs. The loss of Avery Bradley and Kelly Olynyk have been huge as floor spacing has been a huge issue for Boston this series.

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Olynyk is questionable at best and his absence means Sullinger has to finally make an impact in some way. Sullinger was relied on heavily as a scorer in the regular season, however, everything he tries to do, the Hawks stop it. He’s shooting poorly from the field and isn’t able to get open. He’s become a non-factor and close to a liability when playing this series, not what he wanted leading up to free agency.

There is no question this is a must win for the Boston Celtics. They’re back home in front of their fans and a loss here would seemingly end the series. Brad Stevens is still looking for his first playoff win and as much as I would like to think they will get it done at home, nothing over the past two games signifies they will.

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The second half of Game 1 has been the lone bright spot of the series, however, when Boston tried speeding the tempo up in Game 2, the Hawks responded. Stevens is going to have his hands full once again, trying to figure out how to stop a Hawks’ team who is playing some of their best basketball of the season right now. A win here moves the series to 2-to-1 and still in reach for Boston.