The Boston Celtics had won 20 of 22 and brought a nine-game winning streak into their matchup against the Atlanta Hawks on Monday night. That streak certainly seem
But the Hawks, clinging to the final play-in spot in the East and one of the league’s most disappointing teams, launched a comeback to top the Celtics, even with All-Star guard Trae Young and three other key players sidelined by injuries.
ed safe when Boston’s Al Horford hit a 3-pointer late in the second quarter to give the Celtics and 68-38 lead.
Dejounte Murray put the Hawks ahead to stay at 117-116 on a reverse layup with a minute left, and Celtics star Jaylen Brown missed a desperation 3 with the shot clock expiring.
What happened?
After the game, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla pointed out what went wrong for Boston, per Bobby Manning of CLNS:
“Mazzulla points to managing runs & the margins. Said Celtics got good looks from 3 in the 2nd half, but Hawks physicality bothered the offense. Also noted that 58 times 20-point leads have been lost this year.”
The Celtics coach is correct on the Hawks getting through runs. Atlanta’s comeback began with a 9-0 run to end the first half, which cut the deficit to 74-56 as the teams headed to the locker room. The momentum carried over to the third quarter, which began with Atlanta ripping off 19 of the next 23 points to slice the margin to 78-75.
The Celtics, despite 37 points from Jayson Tatum and 24 from Brown, struggled from the outside. Boston shot just 11-38 from the 3-point line on Monday night.
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