Three things from Celtics-Hawks #2

Two games in Georgia, two losses for the Boston Celtics. Their two losses to the Atlanta Hawks mark just the third time this season that they have lost two games in a row.

Rather than blowing a 30-point lead, as they did on Monday, Thursday’s loss was defined by a lack of rebounding and Dejounte Murray’s monster performance. He dropped a career-high 44 points on 44 shots.

The game went to overtime, but Boston wasn’t able to come up clutch when it mattered. They shook up their late-game offense in overtime, but it wasn’t enough, as Murray hit a dagger with 0.1 seconds remaining.

As was the case on Monday, we’ll go with two negatives and a positive for these three things.

Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

1. Ball-watching on the glass

Atlanta grabbed 17 offensive rebounds and scored 28 second-chance points in a game they won by one. That’s a recipe for disaster if you’re the Celtics.

Some of the rebounds the Hawks got were a result of bad luck. Three-point shots bounced weirdly off the rim, leading to long rebounds, and there was even an airball mixed in. But others were a result of poor effort.

Where was Kristaps Porzingis going on this play? He was cutting off a Murray drive that wasn’t even close to forming yet, and once the Hawks guard got by Derrick White, everyone else on the Celtics stood still. No one even attempted to hit the glass.

Sam Hauser plays great defense on this play, but De’Andre Hunter soars in for an offensive board completely uncontested. He was Jrue Holiday’s assignment, but Holiday completely lost him on the perimeter, and the rest of the Celtics are just watching, too.

Boston actually gets this rebound, but the ball-watching persisted. Porzingis and Jaylen Brown stand over Murray’s body and watch the ball instead of getting ready for a board. The ball almost gets all the way to Murray on the ground before any Celtic touches it.

This was the most brutal offensive board of the game. White fights his hardest against Hunter, and some of it was bad luck, but the Celtics just can’t let this happen. Bogdan Bogdanovic reaps the reward, ties the game, and Boston eventually loses in overtime.

2. Missed defensive rotations

For as bad as the Celtics were on the glass in this game, they also had a couple of brain-fart moments on defense.

There is simply zero communication here. Hunter is free to roam the three-point line as Brown and Holiday fail to execute whatever defensive coverage the Celtics are in.

Then, as the game progressed, the Celtics’ defense on Murray wasn’t as bad as advertised. But there was one possession that made it seem as though they left him open all night.

Murray had been torching the Celtics all night, and yet somehow, he’s wide open for a three with two minutes left in overtime. How?

White and Porzingis trap Bogdanovic on the drive, but when he kicks it back out to Vit Krejci, Holiday and Porzingis both react.

One of two things should have happened. Either the Celtics should have lived with a late Porzingis close-out on Krejci, or Brown should have rotated out to Murray, and Jayson Tatum should have covered two in the paint long enough for Porzingis to get back, which he was doing.

Instead, Brown stayed put, two went to Krecji, and Murray got an open look. This just cannot happen at this point in the game, especially with how hot Murray was.

3. Horns set looks great

Boston’s final-shot offense was rough, but for the first few minutes of crunch time in regulation, they looked solid. They were running a lot of actions out of their Horns sets, with White as the ball-handler and Tatum and Brown working at the elbows.

Having the best decision-maker on the team start the play and get it to the two best players seems like the best course of action for Boston, even when the other team defends it well.

White ran the show for a long stretch in the final few minutes, but Boston went away from him on the final plays of regulation and overtime. Why?

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