Phillips Arena continued to be Boston’s personal house of horrors tonight, as the Celts get smoked by the Hawks 110-83 in Game 5.
The first quarter of tonight’s game was an offensive horror show for both squads. The Celts’ shots simply weren’t falling, but thankfully their pitbull defense was on point. Boston “swarmed” the Hawks on every possession to quote Brian Scalabrine, and Atlanta’s offense suffered as a result. Marcus Smart picked up right where he left off, pacing an anemic Celts offense with 7 early points. The teams combined for a whopping 35, as Boston was up 20-15 after 1.
Things started to pick up offensively for Boston in the 2nd. Behind Jonas Jerebko, the C’s jumped out to a 10 point lead and were up 29-19 with 6:35 to go in the first half. Then, unfortunately, Atlanta turned it up a notch on offense, and Boston’s D decided to take a coffee break. Kent Bazemore caught fire and drilled 4 threes, and the Hawks went on a 26-6 run near the end of the half. Isaiah Thomas put up a goose egg through the first 24 minutes, mainly due to Atlanta’s double & triple teams, and the Celts were down 47-39 at the half.
Remember that great defense we saw in the first and some of the second quarter? Well it never returned. As a matter of fact, it was as if the entire Celtics team never returned after halftime. The Hawks became the aggressor, and Boston simply tuned out-both mentally & physically. Atlanta started to find the bottom of the net, and the bottom just dropped out all together for Boston’s shooters. Instead of looking to get to the basket as they did earlier in the contest, Boston resorted to chucking up jumpers & threes. The Hawks dropped 42 points on Boston in the third and shot 61%. It was just a barrage of buckets, each one like another kick in the nuts. There would be no miracle comeback tonight. And then just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, Isaiah Thomas hobbled off the court early in the 4th. Why he was still in the game at that point (it was 93-64 ATL) is another story. The Celtics are calling Thomas’ injury a “mild ankle sprain“. Not a fun night for CelticsNation.
Boston now faces elimination in a do or die Game 6 at the Garden on Thursday. I have not counted this group out, but if IT can’t go on Thursday, it’s obvious they face a daunting task. Hang in there my Celtics brethren-things look bleak, but it’s not over quite yet…
When asked postgame if he thought Isaiah Thomas would/could play on Thursday, Brad Stevens simply said “I’m not qualified to answer that..” He said that Thomas will get “treatment & film” back in Boston and they’ll take it from there.
The Celtics have trailed by 23+ only six times all year.
Three of them have been here at Phillips Arena.
— Sean Grande (@SeanGrandePBP) April 27, 2016
