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Rapid Reaction: Hawks 92, Celtics 91

By Chris Forsberg | ESPNBoston.com

BOSTON -- Rapid Reaction after the Atlanta Hawks defeated the Boston Celtics 92-91 on Tuesday afternoon at TD Garden:

THE NITTY GRITTY
Stop me if you've heard this script before: The Celtics built an early lead (as much as 18 points) only to let the opposition back into the game (Atlanta led by six midway through the third quarter). In fact it hapepned twice as the Hawks rallied from another double-digit deficit late in the game. Boston's first unit really struggled as a group and coach Brad Stevens leaned heavy on his reserves, including at the end of the game. Rookie Kelly Olynyk scored a team-high (and career-high) 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting with five assists and four rebounds, while Kris Humphries added a double-double (18 points, 10 rebounds). Paul Millsap scored a game-high 34 points on 12-of-19 shooting for the Hawks, while Jeff Teague added 16 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists.

TURNING POINT: GAME OF RUNS
The Hawks utilized a 30-6 run spanning into the second half to surge ahead and it culminated with a driving layup by Teague that had the Hawks out front 54-48. Fortunately for Boston, its second unit started rolling in and stopped the bleeding. The Celtics scored 19 points over the next four minutes (Olynyk and Jordan Crawford doing the heavy lifting) and opened a seven-point lead. Boston was up 11 with 6:28 to go, but no double-digit lead is safe around here. The Hawks roared back, setting up a back-and-forth final three minutes.

TURNING POINT II: SEESAW FINISH
The final 180 seconds saw six lead changes and a pair of free throws by Teague had the Hawks out front 92-91 with 1:30 to go. Neither side could get anything to fall from there, but Boston utilized an offensive rebound to set up a final possession with 4.2 seconds to play. Crawford missed a jumper at the right elbow at the buzzer.

FEELING A DRAFT
The Celtics are in line to receive the Nets' 2014 first-round draft pick, but Atlanta has the ability to swap picks with Brooklyn based on the Joe Johnson trade. That means Boston will likely end up with the Hawks' pick if the Nets continue to struggle. Boston could have aided its potential draft position, but couldn't secure their second win over the Hawks this season.

LOOSE BALLS
The Celtics held Kyle Korver without a 3-pointer for the 42 minutes of Tuesday's game, but he extended his NBA-record triple streak to 101 consecutive games by hitting one from the wing -- while being fouled -- with 6:10 to go. Korver had been 0-for-5 beyond the arc to that point. ... The Celtics rode their bench late in the game, keeping Humphries, Olynyk, and Courtney Lee (11 points) on the floor over starters Jeff Green, Brandon Bass, and Jared Sullinger. ... Vitor Faverani, Keith Bogans, and MarShon Brooks were all healthy DNPs for Boston.

WHAT IT MEANS
The Celtics (14-17) close out calendar year 2013 on a loss. Boston went 6-6 in December. The Celtics will watch the ball drop ushering in 2014 and, with it, comes a game-heavy January in which Boston will play 17 games in 29 days. The Celtics play six of their next seven games on the road, starting with Thursday's visit to Chicago. After a brief return home to play the Pelicans on Friday, Boston heads out west on a five-game road trip with stops in Oklahoma City, Denver, Los Angeles (Clippers), Golden State, and Portland. That's seven games in 10 days that ought to test the Celtics after a lightened, home-heavy December slate.
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STREAKY CELTICS FALTER AT END IN ONE-POINT LOSS TO HAWKS

By WEEI  
 
In a topsy-turvey game befitting of much of their play thus far in the 2013-14 season, the Celtics could not put the hammer down after opening up sizable leads in both the first and second halves, ultimately missing five potential go-ahead shots in the final 90 seconds of the game en route to a 92-91 loss at home to the Hawks. The loss dropped the Celtics to 13-18, 1 1/2 games behind Toronto in the Atlantic Division.

The Celtics, who led 23-20 after the first quarter, threatened to blow the Hawks out of the building with a 13-0 run to open the second quarter, with Boston’s lead eventually ballooning to 18, at 42-24. But Atlanta closed the half on a 15-2 run of its own, with the Celtics enduring a stretch of more than 10 minutes (the final 5:52 of the second to the 7:26 mark of the third quarter) without a field goal. The Hawks laid claim to a six-point lead (54-48) with 4:55 left in the third.

From there, however, the Celtics bounced back with a 9-0 run that was punctuated by Jordan Crawford‘s 3-pointer with 3:16 to go in the third, giving Boston a 57-54 lead that it extended to as much as a nine-point lead halfway through the fourth. But the streaky Celtics once again ran off the rails after taking an 85-76 lead, as 10 unanswered points by Atlanta allowed the Hawks to claim a one-point lead with just over three minutes left. From there, the lead changed hands six times, with Jeff Teague‘s two free throws with 1:30 left (following a foul by Avery Bradley) finally giving the Hawks a lead they would not relinquish. The Celtics missed five shots down the stretch with an opportunity to take the win, the last coming when Crawford missed a 10-footer as time expired.

Kelly Olynyk led the Celtics with 21 points off the bench, shooting 8-of-11 including 3-of-5 from beyond the arc. Kris Humphries added 18 points and 10 boards off the bench. But the strong effort of the reserves was undone by an ugly performance from the starting five of Brandon Bass (9 points, 2-of-6 shooting), Jeff Green (8 points, 4-of-10), Jared Sullinger (2 points, 1-of-6 before leaving with a bruised wrist), Crawford (8 points, 3-of-15) and Bradley (8 points, 2-of-10). Meanwhile, the Celtics had no interior answer for Paul Millsap, who scored 34 points (on 12-of-19 shooting) with 15 boards.

After splitting a two-game homestand, the Celtics will next hit the road to face the Bulls on Thursday.
112288

I think Jeff Green is playing himself off of the Celtics and should reserve the moving trucks for mid February!  Green is a head case......for a few games he looks like a super star............then he disappears! At this point ina players career..............he either gets it or he does not..........so far with the Celtics he does not!

Great to see KO finally have a breakout game............just wished they drew a final play up for him at the buzzer! Hopefully KO will build upon this game moving forward.

Should have had Pressey and not Crawford in the last minute of play.  Crawford after winning player of the week 2 weeks ago has regressed back to his old form and no-think play.............Danny ship him out before his stock value falls!

HAPPY HEALTHY & SAFE NEW YEAR TO ALL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  


112288

To be fair, none of the starters looked good today. The second unit was mainly the part getting it done.



KJ

Another huge lead blown.  Sigh.  18 points should be enough, you'd think.

This game was won for Atlanta by Paul Millsap and with help from our starting unit.  Our bench, on the other hand, was outstanding and almost snatched victory out of the jaws of the starters' defeat.

Celtics starting unit:  35 points on 12-47, 10-11 fts, 28 rebs (6 offensive), 11 assists, 10 TOs, 2 steals, 3 blocks.  Nobody scoring in double digits.

Paul Millsap:  34 points on 12-19, 10-14 fts, 15 rebs (5 offensive), 2 assists, 4 TOs, 2 steals, 2 blocks.

According to the boxscore Millsap pretty much outplayed the entire Celtics starting 5, and let me tell you, if you watched the game the boxscore isn't lying.

Now, the Celtics bench:
56 points on 23-37, 6-6 fts, 19 rebs, 17 assists, 5 TOs, 4 steals, 4 blocks.  3 players scoring in double-digits.


1.  Sam etal can castigate me for this, but I'm laying the blame for this loss on Jordan Crawford.  Yeah, I know none of the starters did well but him and Bradley were the only starters in at crunch time and he killed us in so many ways.  He killed us by an unwillingness (we know he has the ability) to be a point guard.  He was 2-11 and then proceeded to throw up more shots just to shake off any misunderstanding that he may have a conscience.  1-7 from 3 and shooting 25% from 3 over the past 5 games.  He ended up 3-15 and that one fgm was an off-balance buzzer beater that he had to take because he wasted so much time running a set.  He had 4 assists after 3 and ended with just 5.  When the chips are down and the pressure's on, he's a SG.  He's a hero-baller.  It's that simple.  No floor generalship, no playmaking, not running the ball up, not doing anything besides running the clock down and forcing one Celtic or another, including himself, into taking bad shots because the clock had run down.  He doesn't get the ball to his teammates in their sweet spots.  Another game of Crawford pounding the ball into the floor for 10 seconds before trying to make something happen.  My link went down for the last 4 seconds, so I don't know the circumstances surrounding Crawford taking the final shot.  He did one good thing today, he set a good back pick that freed Kelly up for a layup.  In other words, Crawford was good only when the ball wasn't in his hands and sucked when it was.  I'm so mad at Crawford right now I can't even see right.  I could just spit, so I'm going to move on.

2.  If anybody wants to know why Atlanta wasn't interested in swapping Paul Millsap for Omer Asik, even with Horford out for the year, should watch this game.  He did whatever he wanted against anybody he wanted anytime he wanted.  Nobody could guard him today, nobody.

3.  This was BY FAR the best game Kelly Olynyk has played in his NBA career.  He didn't rebound well, only 4 rebs, but he did everything else exceptionally well.  A career high 21 points on 8-11, 3-5 from 3 and a couple of fts.  What's more, his defensive rotations were swift and sure (as opposed to previous games where he looks a little lost and weak out there).  3 blocked shots and they were good ones, picking up another players' man at the rim.  His 5 assists were pretty too, he has really good court vision for a big and only 1 TO.  He was scoring inside, he was scoring on slashes to the hoop, he was hitting 3s.  I hope this game settles him down, because this was what we've been waiting for, this was it.  Anybody who wants to know what this kid can do should watch this game film.

4.  Great game by Hump.  18 points on 7-13 and 10 rebs, one of his first (maybe even his first) double-double as a Celtic) in 28 minutes.  Kelly only had 4 rebs, but his front court running mate took care of that.

5.  If only Pressey could shoot!  The offense runs SO much better when he's in there.  He was the only Celtic who played that didn't score today but he had 5 assists and only 1 TO in just 13 minutes.  More importantly, he RAN the ball up court, hit his teammates quickly and where they wanted it.  He is a point guard, he is the point guard of the 2nd unit and the 2nd unit looked very good and very efficient today.

6.  We had 40 points in the paint and 28 fast break points.  They had 34 points in the paint and 10 fast break points.  We shot 42%, they shot 36%.  So, how did they win?  Free throws were 21ftm for them (Millsap accounting for about 50%) vs 16ftm for us and because they executed in the clutch and we turned into hero ball by one player (no, I haven't completely moved on yet).  

7.  Bradley was 2-10 for 8 points.  Crawford was 3-15 for 8 points, with one of those fgm making Mike Gorman say over and over again "Are you kidding me!?".  NOT good.  Why not?  NO MOVEMENT.  People standing around.  Crawford dribbling the clock down from 25'.

8.  Gustavo Ayon, getting a few minutes due to Horford's injury, is positively Rodman-like in his aversion to shooting.  He had 7 rebounds in 7 minutes, all 7 of them offensive, and most of the time he passed the ball out of the paint.

9.  Jeff Green was coming out of the game and he had no emotion on his face.  He didn't look at anybody, he walked right past Stevens, who was talking to him.  He was like a dead man walking.  To his credit he didn't sit down, he stood and watched the game, but he didn't have any emotion on his face nor did he yell or call out encouragement.  With 3 minutes gone in the 2nd half, and with us turning the ball over a few times and not scoring, Brad Stevens told his first unit (per Abby Chin) "you're not getting the job done.  This is your last chance to make things happen."  They went out and played harder, but not better.  NO MOVEMENT, just a lot of dribbling out at the perimeter (my last time mentioning that, I promise).  So, Stevens yanked them and put the bench back in.  Maybe that's why Green was like that, I don't know, but I'm starting to lose patience with him.  I'm going to wait to see what happens after Rondo comes back and see how he plays.  Either way, if he needs Rondo to be consistent, it's hard to consider him to be part of our "future core".  If you're core, you have to do it night-in-and-night-out whether a key player is out with an injury or a suspension (like, say, throwing a ball at a ref) or just having a bad game himself.  They fixed his heart, they should have just replaced it with one that beats a bit more fiercely.  

A great opportunity, a GREAT opportunity, to pick up a win and drive up the value of Atlanta's first pick by handing them a loss and we couldn't hold an 18 point lead.

Thank God it's New Year's Eve.  I don't need an excuse to sedate myself.
 

bob


.

Brad Stevens telling Jordan Crawford "if you tell me where you left your brain, I'll have someone go get it and nobody will know the difference".






bob


.

Bob, why would I castigate you for writing what you see? I'm the one who recently called one Crawford miscue the worst play of the season. I'm not in love enough with any of the current players to refrain from calling them as I see them. For quite a while, Crawford seemed to be a reasonable fill-in for Rondo, although we all knew that PG would never be Jordan's primary forte. Unfortunately, he does seem to have regressed lately. However, this seems to have been a game in which the offense of all the starters was so bad that every one of them may have been pressing too much—especially after the lead was lost.

Sam

Okay, so I was there today. Green started the game on a decent roll, showing a lot of pep in his step. All of a sudden it just disappeared.
Nothing, nowhere, then Stevens took him out, he walked by Stevens,
And went to the end of the bench where Stevens followed him, talking to him. He never got back in the game, stood the whole second half
I will say, when the team rallied he applauded them, but there was no
Talking with anyone. Someone said he and Bass had an altercation,
I did not witness it, but Bass did not get back in the game either.

Sullinger sat but had injured his finger and went to to locker room
Before the first half was over.

What is going on? I just was a very disappointed Celtic fan today. Even Bradley was off. The second team deserved all the time they got, they busted their butts.

Jeff Green is an unhappy ball player right now. WHY?

Rosalie

Here's some video.

The rumors running amok are that Jeff Green and Brandon Bass "got into it" on the bench.  Maybe that's why they got 4th quarter DNPs.  Maybe that's why Green didn't sit down, didn't want to be near Bass (who could break him in two).

Green, with the dunk







Bass with the block and then running down court for a score.




Lee, playing the passing lane.






Pressey, with the Rondo-like pass to Olynyk.  I wish KO had dunked it strong, but...BEE-Utiful pass by Pressey. In stride, at the right height for a big man, close enough to the basket that KO didn't need a dribble, he could just finish. THAT'S how it's done, Jordan, that's how it's done. Take the stickum off your fingers.





bob


.

This game left a bad taste in my mouth. So much so that I'm not even going to do a full-blown assessment on what I witnessed. But I will point out a few observations...


1. The second unit was awesome.

Pressey, Lee, Olynyk, Wallace, and Humphries all played with fire. They were making plays and were building the lead. Olynyk had his best game yet, and Pressey was running the offense efficiently. Humphries and Lee were productive, and Wallace's defensive presence was there.

2. The first unit was an exercise in futility

The first unit was just ugly to watch. Offensively, they all struggled. Their defense also left a lot to be desired. I don't know what the problem was, but they just weren't mentally in the game.

I agreed with Brad sticking with his second unit guys. They were the only ones producing and deserved the chance to see the game through to the end, win or lose.

3. Green on the rocks.

To echo was Rosalie said before, I'm not quite sure what's going on. I'm inclined to believe that some of the problem is with Green himself, and then with the offense in general.

Green is a guy that needs to be involved early and throughout the game. Why should he always start with the ball at the 3 point line? It expends much more energy having to make a move from there as opposed to being 10-12 feet from the basket.

Jeff Green is NOT a superstar. He is a role player with explosive talent. At best, he is a second or third option and it'd be unfair to judge him as a first option. I think people need to realize this when assessing him as a player. Despite his talents, he isn't cut from the same cloth as Durant, James, and George. He lacks the consistent intensity, the relentless drive, and the killer instinct to will his team beyond what they could normally do.

Anyway, it was a bad loss on all accounts. I hope they learn from this poor showing.



KJ

It is great that a new, young coach like Stevens is not reserved in flexing his muscles. They have to know this behavior is not acceptable here.

Milsap was a beast today, the Hawks are lucky to have him.

It is strange, two of the most even tempered guys on the team arguing.

Did they say where Rondo was? Is he already rehabbing with the Red Claws?

Rosalie

Happy new year, all! Health and happiness to you and yours!

Unfortunately, Jordan Crawford is not Paul Pierce. IMHO, the probability of scoring the last shot with a team play (as if it's a middle of the 2nd quarter) is higher than giving the ball to JC for iso hero shot.
I was surprised at the openness of the comment by Abby Chin about BrSt's warning to the first unit.
Also, as Bobh noted before, I was surprised (pleasantly) by KO's achievement on the defensive end. Hope the trend continues.

AK

KJ, I agree with your analysis and hope Brad shakes up the starting lineup. Those with the greatest desire should play the most minutes on a team where ability has been distributed fairly evenly. Until Crawford was honored a couple of weeks ago, I thought he was the biggest reason we were playing over our heads, but it seems the recognition has gone to his head - as if subconsciously he thinks a player of the week can't miss. The cure might be for Pressey to start. Hawk

With 1:21 left, the Celtics were down 1 and had the ball.

Olynyk missed a 3.  Offensive team rebound, we get the ball back with 1:17.  20 second time out.

Hump missed a 13' shot coming out of the timeout.

The next 3 shots, and misses, were by Crawford.

Atlanta took, and missed, 2 shots.

5 fgas vs 2fgas.

I'm just trying to say that we had our chances, 5 fgas in less than 1 1/2 minutes, 3 fgas more than Atlanta, and we didn't execute.  Kelly and Hump were both hitting at high % all game, so I understand them shooting, but did Brad Stevens really call Crawford's number 3 straight times?  When he couldn't throw the ball in the Atlantic Ocean the whole game?

If so, I have to wonder about him a bit too.


bob


.

Just watching the game now 3rd Qtr Celts 3:10 left 57 56

Dboss

Seems like a normal rotation. Ko and hump are making the most of extended minutes.

Did I say I now like the way JG is playing?

Dboss

Wow...that was a fun game....last shot time.

Dboss

I thought the team played well and the bench in particular made huge contributions.

I would have liked to see Jeff Green in the game down the stretch ( Wallace was not playing that well) and I thought Stevens should have called a time out with about 20 seconds left to set up a play.  Jordan Crawford should not be controlling the clock and taking ridiculous shots.

Ultimately I thought this was a coaches loss.

Interesting comments from the ATL feed.  Had to listen to them because of blackout rules.  They raved about Kelly all night long and also said several times that Crawford was taking bad shots.

ATL is a team that could keep us from getting a lottery pick assuming we make the playoffs and they do too.

Not surprised Milsap went off.  Not surprised we could not stop him.  Just too quick for our frontline.

dboss