If you wanted to see another frustrating Celtics loss after having a big early lead, then this was the game for you! The Celtics squandered a lead that ballooned all the way up to 23 at one point, but in typical 2014-15 Celtics fashion, they gave it all back and then some.
This was the same ol’ song-and-dance for Boston, with some brilliant early performances giving way to some mind-boggling bad basketball. It featured a half-court play where an opponent threw a cross-court pass from the left wing to the right block past 3 defenders without even a hint of the play being stopped. It featured a late 4th quarter play where Rondo had the ball at the wing, and, while Sullinger was setting a pick for him, saw Evan Turner come up and set some kind of pick for him too, and neither pick-setter leave while Rondo was waving them away… forcing a time out to reset the play.
That’s the Celtics right now… great when they’re going good, horrible when things start to go wrong. There’s very little in between.
The Celtics opened up ON FIRE. They hit 11 of their first 15 shots (including all 3 from deep). Rondo assisted on 7 of those makes before taking a seat. The Celtics ended up scoring 42 in the first, shooting 77% including 4 of 4 from deep. Every Celtics who got into the game scored except for Gerald Wallace, who was only on the floor for the last 30 seconds. They gave up 30 points to Atlanta, though, to only be up 12 after all that.
The Celtics stayed hot in the second quarter while Atlanta started out ice cold. The Celtics whipped off a 13-0 run capped off by a sweet Rondo block that he picked up and fired down court to Bradley for a fast break layup and a 23 point lead. That, though, was countered by a 7-0 Hawks run. Avery Bradley answered that run by scoring 5 of the next 7 points. Then they flipped the script with the Celtics going scoreless for a 4-minute stretch and nearly losing all of their 12 point lead. But a Sullinger jumper, a Green dunk, and a Sully buzzer-beating 3 averted a disaster finish to the quarter to go into the half up 16
After a brief burst to the 3rd, the Celtics went into a jumper frenzy… or rather jumper-missing frenzy… that also included some ramped up Atlanta defense that led to a 15-10 start to the quarter for Atlanta. That was briefly quelled by a sweet steal that Evan Turner snatched, spun, and fired upcourt to Jeff Green in one motion. I say briefly because Atlanta resumed the assault and attack while the C’s mostly settled for jumpers. The Celtics collapse began early tonight, with the C’s giving up a 30-19 third quarter.
The story continued in the 4th with the Hawks erasing the entire 23 point Celtics and taking a lead at the 10:48 mark in the 4th. The dogfight continued with neither team pulling away for most the of the quarter, though the Hawks definitely had control of the game. Still the Celtics managed to keep it close despite Dennis Schroder joining the “random opposing guard who demolishes the C’s late in games” with 10 4th quarter points. In fact, the C’s had an opportunity to tie or win with the ball and 23 second on the clock.
Jeff Green got the ball at the top of the key, up-faked, and got Al Horford to bite. Horford clearly landed on Green, but there was no whistle. The rest of the play devolved into a mess that led to a miss, a scramble in which the Hawks got possession but there was no foul called on the Celtics, and a breakaway layup to end the game for Atlanta.
I’m not saying the Celtics would or could have done anything to actually execute and win the game, but that was as obvious a foul as you’ll ever see and there’s no excuse in the world not to call it. I don’t care that the Celtics didn’t deserve the win (they definitely didn’t) and the officiating isn’t even on the list of why the Celtics lost the game, but let’s at least get a proper end to the game. That smacked of the referees having had enough of being in the building, and short of someone pulling out weapon, there would be no foul called.
Anyway, the Celtics blew it again, this time coughing up a 23 point lead and losing 109-105
The Green:
First half Rondo was his very Rondo self. First half Rondo had 2 points, 6 rebounds, and 14 assists while controlling the tempo and typically affecting the game without the need to score.
Jeff Green and Jared Sullinger were the efficiency twins tonight combining for 47 points on 19-32 shooting. Sully jacked up 7 more 3’s, but he made 5 of them tonight. I want to let it slide, cuz he made a bunch, but 7 3’s is a lot, man. It’s a lot.
Avery Bradley had a nice offensive game too. 7 of 13 from the field, 3 of 5 from deep, and 18 points, half of which came in the second quarter.
Tyler Zeller blocked a shot attempt at the rim. A guy went up with the ball at the rim, Zeller jumped, and prevented it with his hand. I don’t know that I’ve really seen much of that this season.
The Gross:
Second half Rondo was 0-5, though he did have 6 rebounds and 5 assists for a quite odd overall stat line. But as the defense ramped up, he couldn’t remove the pressure from his teammates with his own scoring. And with these teammates, someone needs to remove pressure because most of these guys can’t do it themselves. He also had 6 turnovers in the game.
The Celtics are horrific at defending the 3, but even they are aware that Kyle Korver has one purpose for being in the NBA, right? It didn’t seem like it tonight with Korver dropping 24 points on 6-7 shooting from 3. While a few of them were tough shots, there many where a Celtics defender (often Evan Turner) slipped way too deep into the lane and gave Korver room to shoot. Why? I don’t know. Its Kyle freakin’ Korver. That’s what he does.
The Celtics scored a season-high 42 points in the first quarter. They scored 39 in the second half.
The Celtics had 6 turnovers in the first 6 minutes of the 4th quarter.
The Greenlights:
Rondo finds Green in the corner for 3
Rondo with a nice little finger roll
Kelly Olynyk finds Brandon Bass
Green rises up for the slam
Sully beats the buzzer
The Grid:
- Points in the paint: ATL-44, BOS 36
- Celtics 1st quarter: 42 points on 17 of 22 shooting (77%). Celtics 2nd-4th quarters: 63 points on 24-62 shooting (38.7%)
- Celtics: 23 turnovers leading to 28 ATL points.
This sums up tonight nicely:
How does Coach Stevens feel about this latest collapse? pic.twitter.com/X0MUmKdZFZ
— Jay O (@MrTrpleDouble10) December 3, 2014
Well, on the plus side, the Celtics have the Piston and Lakers next. Those teams are actually worse than the Celtics. I’d like to keep it that way
