BOSTON — The Celtics had their chances to close out the Hawks, but instead, they lost 119-115 on Saturday at TD Garden in an overtime thriller. The C’s couldn’t make the necessary plays down the stretch as they dropped to 29-13 on the season. The Hawks improved to 22-19.
The Celtics started strong, building up a double-digit lead by winning at the margins. But they struggled through the second quarter and early in the third quarter. While they built up another lead in the fourth quarter, the Hawks forced overtime. But that was partially due to the Celtics’ miscues in the final moments of regulation.
Overtime featured some high-level basketball as the teams exchanged blows. Some tempers also flared between Jayson Tatum and Onyeka Okongwu, which C’s coach Joe Mazzulla seemed to like the pushing and shoving. Ultimately, though, it was the Hawks who came away with the victory.
Jaylen Brown had 24 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists for the Celtics while Jayson Tatum added 23 points. Payton Pritchard had 20 points off the bench and Luke Kornet had 17 points and seven rebounds in his spot start. Trae Young had 28 points and 12 assists for the Hawks while Dyson Daniels had 23 points.
The Celtics hit the road for a four-game road trip as they start by taking on the Warriors at 5 p.m. Monday in San Francisco. Here are four takeaways from Boston’s loss to Atlanta:
Inconsistency continues: The only recent consistent for the Celtics has been their up-and-down play. They had their chances to win in regulation Saturday but couldn’t finish the job. They’ve played .500 basketball over the past 16 games for an 8-8 record, and there’s a good reason why. This time, they lost composure down the stretch of the game. They followed up the blowout win over the Magic with a tough loss Saturday. They’re also just now 5-4 in January after the loss, which follows up an 8-6 record in December.
Sloppy close to regulation: The Celtics had their chances to win in regulation, but they were again sloppy during crunch-time. There were miscues that allowed the Hawks to force the game into overtime. It was a sloppy finish to regulation which doomed the C’s to the loss. It was a similar script in the recent Pelicans win, where the C’s escaped with a one-point win even though it shouldn’t have come down to that due to mistakes.
Reserves step up: Kornet got the start Saturday as the C’s were without Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis. Both big men played Friday and neither of them play in the second game of back-to-backs. Kornet played well in his 31 minutes as he’s a great value on his minimum contract. Pritchard was also huge as he poured in 20 points on 7-for-12 shooting, including 4-for-8 on 3-pointers. Neemias Queta also got clutch minutes in overtime as he closed out the game. The reserves stepped up as there were available minutes to go around Saturday.
Tough tests: The Celtics have their second four-game road trip out West this month as they’ll be featured prominently in nationally-televised games. They face the Warriors, Clippers, Lakers and Mavericks in that order. So none of those teams are in the top-4 in the West currently, but there will still be some battles, including an NBA Finals rematch from last year with Dallas. The length of the trip also adds to the toll considering the C’s will have to fly across the country.
