There are two different ways to look at the Boston Celtics’ Game 1 loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday, and both have their merits.
First, for the glass-half-full crowd: The Celtics played arguably their worst offensive first half of basketball, yet only lost by one point. After scoring just 34 first-half points and trailing by as many as 17 points, Boston displayed courage and resolve by actually taking the lead early in the fourth quarter and fighting until the very last second.
“Hey, we ride this way, right?” head coach Brad Stevens said in a postgame interview aired on CSN New England. “We guard, we grind, we try to find a way. And to (the Hawks’) credit, they found a way. We just didn’t make enough (shots) in the first half to take advantage. I really felt good about how we were attacking them the whole night.
“I don’t think you can force-feed shots in the paint and at the rim if what you’re getting is good open looks from the perimeter. I think one of the two has to go first. And then once we made a few in the second half, we got to the rim a few times, and were able to convert because they were more spread out.”
If the Celtics played terrible basketball for the first 24 minutes yet still almost pulled off the win, what’s their potential if they play well for 48 minutes?
Which brings us to the glass-half-empty view: Why can’t Boston get it together out of the gate?
Saturday marked the third consecutive game the Celtics have struggled mightily in the first half. A 31-3 Charlotte Hornets run doomed the C’s in Monday’s loss, and while a miraculous 26-point comeback erased Wednesday’s hideous first half against the Miami Heat, the Hawks did just enough Saturday to make Boston pay for its early mistakes. And there were plenty, as the C’s shot just 23 percent from the field while committing 12 personal fouls.
“We can’t put ourselves in that big of a hole,” Celtics point guard Isaiah Thomas said in a postgame interview aired on CSN New England. “It takes so much energy and so much time out of us to get back in the game. We seem to always get back in the game, but there’s those games where we just don’t have enough to pull it off.”
Boston has outscored its last two opponents — Miami and Atlanta — by a combined 30 points, a testament to this team’s competitive spirit and ability to climb out of any deficit, no matter how large. But that’s a dangerous formula to rely on, especially in a postseason series that the Celtics could have to win without starting shooting guard Avery Bradley.
“(Saturday night) was a little different,” Thomas added. “The first half, we got all the shots that we wanted. It’s just, the ball wasn’t going in the hoop. They’re a good team. They made plays and made shots. But again, we can’t put ourselves in a big hole like that, especially in the playoffs. It’s too tough to come back and get wins.”
Thumbnail photo via John David Mercer/USA TODAY Sports Images
