The Boston Celtics’ offense was clicking during a Saturday matinee matchup with the Hawks as they prepare for a tough stretch against some of the NBA’s best.
It was the earliest tip of the season for the Boston Celtics as they hosted another young and fast playing team in the Atlanta Hawks. Following a 3-1 west coast trip, the Celtics needed to take care of business before the Nuggets came to town and before a trip to Philadelphia.
I’m not certain seeding is all that important to these Celtics down the stretch of the regular season, but both games against the Kings and Hawks needed to be wins. Were they perfect? No, but the Celtics gave us reason to believe the mojo from their successful west coast road trip carried over, which is crucial for them hitting their stride in time for the playoffs.
Effective offense
On Thursday night, the Kings came out and punched the Celtics in the mouth early, going ahead by as much as 17 points. Comebacks like that aren’t the best way to win games, so the Celtics needed to be ready to get out to a good start.
Trae Young and the up-tempo Hawks played well enough to put Boston in an early hole, but the Celtics’ offense was clicking early. They attacked matchups where Young guarded Kyrie Irving or Marcus Smart and were moving the ball around effectively for 20 first-half assists.
The Hawks aren’t the best defensive team out there, but it’s a good sign the Celtics were able to put up over 120 points with relative ease. When Boston’s offense is hitting on all cylinders and their defense is active and making their presence known on the other end, they’re a nearly impossible team to beat.
When the Celtics’ deep reserves gave up a 25-point lead in the fourth quarter (more on that soon), the key rotation players were able to put enough points together to secure the win. The fact that they had their offense rolling, came out of the game for a while and didn’t miss a beat once the game was tight all of a sudden is probably the main positive from this game.
Marcus Smart: First Team All-Defense
Smart was fantastic in this one. His energy was high as always, he distributed the ball very well, hit open shots, capitalized on post-ups against Young and stifled the rookie point guard on the other end. He finished with 16 points (5-9 FG), nine assists and five steals.
Smart has been brilliant on the defensive end all season and finally has the role to support a campaign for a First Team All-Defense selection. He has the highest defensive Real Plus-Minus in the NBA for point guards and would rank third for shooting guards. You could make a case every year for Smart to make an All-Defensive team, but this year has been his best season yet. Also, this is just the regular season. Smart usually turns it up a notch in the playoffs.
Near collapse
The Celtics led by 25 towards the end of the third quarter when Irving and Smart went to the bench. Brad Stevens decided to go with a bench unit featuring Terry Rozier, Jayson Tatum, Daniel Theis, Semi Ojeleye and Jaylen Brown. It did not go well.
The Hawks went on a 34-9 run to tie the game, which turned out to be one of the only negatives from the game Saturday. The Celtics put Irving, Smart and Horford back in the game with Marcus Morris and Brown to outscore the Hawks 17-8 to close the game, but why did it take so long for Stevens to put his starters back in?
Stevens tends to stick with a player or lineup combination longer than most would when they start to struggle. While that can lead to building confidence in his players for when they get hit in the mouth against better teams, it can also lead to situations like Saturday.
Stevens will have to improve on his decision making here by either calling a timeout earlier or putting an end to a certain lineup. In the playoffs, it’s unlikely you win games after giving up a 20+ point lead.