5 takeaways like Danilo Gallinari, Atlanta Hawks to embarrass Boston Celtics

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The Boston Celtics ended their road trip on Wednesday with a devastating defeat to the Atlanta Hawks, dropping 127-112.

Five takeaways when the Celtics hit a new low.

The Celtics were left with nothing.

Like it or not, one thing seemed obvious: the Celtics were exhausted, both physically and mentally. After Atlanta threw a haymaker in the first half, Boston had nothing left in the tank for a response.

Still, as Brad Stevens put it, “Maybe we got beat tonight, because sometimes you get hit by a bunch of haymen in the NBA like these guys did with us tonight, but we could have been in a better position if we had played better. . “

A very brief rally in the third quarter flattened as Atlanta buried another set of 3-pointers and pushed the lead back out. By the fourth quarter, the Celtics’ bank was in. It felt like that would have been an acceptable replacement much sooner, perhaps around the time in the second quarter when Danilo Gallinari drilled a 3-pointer close to the logo – Trae Young’s usual reach.

After Tuesday’s loss to the Mavericks, Jayson Tatum sighed wearily.

“I mean, we have a game tomorrow,” he said. Just try to move on to the next one. That’s all you can do. “

After Wednesday’s game, the same message rings true.

Sometimes shooters get hot (and this season, 3-pointers decide games).

The difference between wins and losses this season seems to be essentially falling along the lines of 3-point shooters, and Atlanta destroyed Boston behind the arc on Wednesday – topping the Celtics from 54.8 percent to 25.8 percent.

Young, of course, threw 33 points on 12-for-23 shooting and led Atlanta’s attack, but the real difference was Gallinari, who hit 10 of his 12 three-point tries and finished with 38 runs.

The Celtics had four double-digit starters (Jaylen Brown, Tristan Thompson, Jeff Teague, and Jayson Tatum), but Brown and Tatum finished 17 and 13, respectively. Boston needed many more of its stars against the Hawks’ offensive. That has been a well-known chorus this season.

Boston’s youth continued to bring energy.

Aaron Nesmith finished with 13 points on 5-for-7 shooting. Rob Williams again posted a few highlights. The youngest Celtics players are not ready to make Boston a good team by being reliable role-players, but they’ve put in some solid performances.

What that means is unclear. Nesmith and Williams in particular have earned more minutes, but the Celtics can’t find any wins. That’s a tough equation to solve.

The call for change will only increase in volume.

Celtics fans asked for barter, for layoffs, for anything that could bring the Celtics closer to their respect.

Those calls won’t increase in volume until after Wednesday’s debacle, but it’s not clear what exactly the Celtics can do. Tatum and Brown are of course untouchable. Others on the team could certainly be shipped off, but while rookies like Nesmith and Payton Pritchard have shown flashes, and while Rob Williams now looks like a real player, they are unlikely to provide an outcome this season that could make Boston’s fortune change.

Meanwhile, as Grousbeck pointed out earlier on Wednesday at 98.5 The Sports Hub, firing Stevens or Ainge would immediately make them top options in the open market. Both are talented at their job, which makes the team’s current situation all the more confusing and worse.

Stevens was asked if his message gets through to players.

“I’d say what I’m saying to you and everyone else isn’t necessarily what I’m saying in the locker room,” Stevens said. And how you say it is certainly very important, and I’ve had my moments. Let’s put it this way. That said, I think this team looks like at this point balancing uncertain and uncertain play with the fact that we’ve had a pair that slipped away. And so the only way I know to get that back is to dive to the ground, take on attacks, sprint to help your teammates is fight for possession. And that is our mission.

“Listen, none of us are happy with the work we’ve done, and I should be on that list with where we are in the first place.”

Something is going on.

We cannot say exactly what ails the Celtics. Their transgression stagnates. No one can stop their defense. Opposing stars get where they want to go and make whatever they want.

And yet the Celtics still have plenty of talent. It is a confusing situation that cannot be explained really easily.

Maybe Jayson Tatum is still dealing with COVID issues. Maybe Kemba Walker will meet someday. Maybe all those things don’t come together and the team continues to spiral.

“It can’t get any worse,” Kemba Walker said 10 days ago after the Celtics lost to the Washington Wizards.

Clearly, Walker was wrong at the time. The worrying thing is that it may still not be true.