There was some basketball played in Atlanta tonight, but the highlight of the evening was easily Danny Ainge’s appearance on the CSNNE broadcast. D.A. was open, honest and held nothing back. During the first quarter, while the Atlanta offense was doing basically whatever it wanted, Ainge called the Celts’ defense a “sieve”. Pretty accurate, as Atlanta shot 78% from the field to go up 32-23 on Boston after 1 quarter. To state the obvious, it was very clear from the get go that Atlanta was the hungrier team tonight. Despite being on the tail end of a back-to-back, the Hawks were focused & came out energetic. Boston definitely looked like a team that had not played in almost 4 full days. The C’s were rusty & a bit frazzled early.
Brad Stevens got his team to settle down a bit in the 2nd quarter. Celts still had some turnover issues (3) but tightened up a bit on the defensive end. Couple that with 10 points from Avery Bradley (including 2 treys) and Boston, who was down 46-32 midway through the quarter, would only trail 56-51 at the half.
Boston came alive offensively in the 3rd, and the Hawks’ shooting finally cooled off. Rondo really pushed the tempo and Jeff Green led a 21-6 run by the Celts that had Boston up 77-70 after 3 quarters. Green capped off his 9 point third with a nothing-but-net trey at the end of the quarter. Celts held Atlanta to just 14 points on 5 of 20 shooting in the period.
Boston went away from what worked in the 4th quarter. They were up 89-80 with 5:44 left, but that’s where it all fell apart. The C’s got laxed on both ends of the floor, and Jeff Teague & K.Korver sparked a 19-3 Hawks run as Atlanta snuffed out any chance of a Boston win. Korver’s back-to-back threes at the 3:09 mark were absolute hope killers. Celtics fall to the Hawks tonight 105-97. Celts have now dropped 9 straight & 14 of their last 15. The loss coupled with Orlando’s win over Brooklyn has the C’s tied with the Magic for 3rd worst record in the league.
Boston is off tomorrow and plays the Bobcats at the Garden on Friday night. Tip-off is at 7:30pm.
The Green:
- Avery Bradley had his best game in a long time, going for 24 points including 4 of 4 from downtown. His back court mate, Rajon Rondo had a nice stat line as well: 19 pts, 12 asts, 4 rebs & 3 stls.
- Sully put up yet another double-double, going for 15 & 11. Chris Johnson had 10 pts in just 14 mins & Kelly pulled down 9 rebounds in his 15 mins on the floor.
The Gross:
- Boston turned the ball over 14 times-6 of them coming in the ever so important 4th quarter
- C’s gave up bookend 30+ pt quarters: 32 in the 1st and 35 in the 4th
- Hawks shot 53% from the field for the game
The Greenlights:
Green blocks Teague
http://youtu.be/2OnYXLnSAIU
CJ buzzer beater
http://youtu.be/xW0UlGk3S5w
Rondo to Green
The Grid: (quick stats)
#CelticsTalk Ainge on Stevens: “You can tell that he’s really into the game. I couldn’t be happier with the job he’s done this entire year.”
— CSNNE.com (@CSNNE) April 10, 2014
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Ainge on the Celtics’ 1st quarter: “We’re sort of going through the motions on defense … Our defense right now is a sieve!” #CelticsTalk
— CSNNE.com (@CSNNE) April 10, 2014
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Box score
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