Celtics Look In Mirror Following Dreadful NBA Cup Loss To Hawks

BOSTON — It’s only been 12 games, but the Celtics are beginning to unveil their vulnerabilities and it cost them a victorious start to their Emirates NBA Cup run as TD Garden’s clover green parquet was anything but lucky.

Atlanta’s struggling-to-fly Hawks paid Boston a visit without the assistance of three-time All-Star Trae Young, De’Andre Hunter, Bogdan Bogdanovic, and three others — two of their three scoring leaders — but none of it mattered. Quin Synder’s undermanned Atlanta squad soared to give the Celtics a humbling awakening to just how low Boston’s untimely flaws could drag the defending champs.

The Hawks defeated the Celtics, 117-116, surprisingly, through an unmatched will to go the extra mile despite an overall undisciplined four quarters of basketball — Boston and Atlanta combined to commit 35 turnovers. By the fourth quarter’s final buzzer, all the Celtics could do was hang their heads in regret and agony.

“They played harder and they played more physical than we did, and they got 20 offensive rebounds and forced us into 20 turnovers,” Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla said. “You let a team outshoot you in the shot margin like that and you’re not gonna win.”

Mazzulla added: “We got cross-matched on them a few times but they got rebounds and layups on everybody — big, small, medium. So, they just outplayed us on both ends of the floor.”

Boston took a modest 31-29 lead to the second quarter, which set the tone for the overarching theme of its tournament-commencing matchup; physicality, discipline and depth were the three deciding factors. The Celtics collected just six offensive rebounds to Atlanta’s 20, which accounted for 18 second-chance points from the Hawks. Boston’s 20 turnovers, if anything, made the inches-close final score impressive for the Celtics, but spoke volumes to an issue in need of alleviation. Meanwhile, the reserve unit gave Mazzulla absolutely nothing from start to finish.

Payton Pritchard, an early Sixth Man of the Year candidate, and Sam Hauser, Boston’s go-to off-the-bench sharpshooter, combined to score just nine points.

“They just were more aggressive and found a way to get every 50-50 ball, it seemed like, and just wanted it a little bit more,” Derrick White said. “… It’s not really like us to come out and have to question our readiness, especially with the group we have.”

Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum were responsible for 11 turnovers combined. Boston’s star duo pitched in 57 points, but also shot just 5-of-15 from 3-point range while Brown missed four free-throw attempts — including three in the fourth quarter. Even with an opportunity to make up for their many shortcomings with the final possession, Boston came up short to encapsulate a night filled with frustration and confusion.

Granted, it’s early but teams in the Eastern Conference — the Philadelphia 76ers (2-8), Milwaukee Bucks (3-8) and New York Knicks (5-5) — have experienced first-hand how damaging a winter-cold start can be to a team. Boston rarely experienced that last season, keeping every (rare) losing skit to no greater than two games.

“Defense, setting the tone, physicality, too many layups,” Brown explained. “I think we guarded the 3-point line well. Just physicality — switching, rebounding. Stuff like that that we gotta, night to night, we gotta be great at. Tonight we wasn’t. … Mentally, we just was too careless tonight. We expected the win. Too careless, and it showed.”

Boston dropped to 9-3 on the season, still only trailing the undefeated (12-0) Cleveland Cavaliers for the lead in the East. There’s still plenty of time, especially without Kristaps Porzingis, meaning the Celtics have plenty of leeway to live and learn from their miscues as the season moves on.

“This is part of the journey, but we got some stuff to clean up,” Brown said. “We’re not a perfect team. It’s a new season. It’s a new journey and we’re looking forward to embracing those moments.”