BOSTON — The Celtics didn’t play the on-brand basketball that’s made them the league’s reigning champions they usually paid a troublesome worth because of this.
Jayson Tatum scored a modest 20 factors on 5-of-16 capturing from the sphere, together with an much more modest 2-of-9 from 3-point vary. Nevertheless, within the second-biggest possession, an opportunity to probably seal a victory from Boston and share a collective exhale with the TD Backyard crowd in attendance, Tatum fell brief.
It fell in keeping with the night-long theme for the Celtics however left Tatum expressing emotions of remorse after Boston’s 117-116 NBA Cup-opening loss to the shorthanded Hawks. Quickly after Atlanta’s Onyeka Okongwu put the Celtics behind, Tatum did not corral an inbound cross from Jrue Vacation with 4.1 seconds remaining.
“I gotta seize the ball,” Tatum stated postgame, per CLNS Media. “In order that was on me.”
It wasn’t the top because the Hawks had been charged with an out-of-the-blue turnover themselves, however Boston’s marked its season-high 20. Even with the ultimate possession, Jaylen Brown’s 13-foot mid-range try at a game-winner couldn’t bail the Celtics out. The miscues had been far an excessive amount of, too fixed and it was too late to alleviate the momentum Boston had given Atlanta by enjoying sloppy, uncharacteristic basketball.
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Boston allowed Atlanta to rack up 20 offensive rebounds, watched Larry Nance Jr. drain gut-wrenching three after gut-wrenching three within the second half and missed 5 free-throw makes an attempt — Brown missed three within the fourth quarter. That set the tone, making the ultimate rating a toss-up because the Hawks, who dedicated 15 turnovers with out Trae Younger, De’Andre Hunter and Bogdan Bogdanovic, had been simply inches higher.
“It’s already powerful to win on this league and whenever you give them second and third alternatives and also you flip the ball over as an alternative of getting the shot up, it simply makes it powerful for us,” Tatum added, per CLNS Media. “We didn’t play effectively sufficient to deserve the win, they usually did.”
Everybody who spoke postgame out of Boston’s locker room shared an equivalent sentiment. The Celtics credited the Hawks for popping out and out-performing the title defenders, however Boston’s loss spoke extra about its failures. There aren’t many groups within the league able to profitable regardless of turning the ball over 20 instances, being held to lower than 30 factors within the third and fourth quarters and watching because the opposing staff logs 16 complete steals. That’s a recipe for catastrophe on any given night time and the C’s realized the arduous method.
