The Celtics Refuse To Stop Playing Like Assholes And It Is Currently Ruining My Life

Maddie Malhotra. Getty Images.

That about sums it up I'd say. Let's begin.

The Good

- Out of the entire roster, there are just two players who deserve to find themselves in this section. Two guys that I have zero issues with the morning after another inexcusable loss.

Luke Kornet and Payton Pritchard, you did your job. With no KP or Horford given it was a B2B, that meant Luke Kornet was not only going to have to play, he was going to have to be impactful. He responded with in my opinion, one of his best performances of his season

17/7/2/4/2 on 7-9 shooting with 6 OREB in his 30 minutes, this was about as ideal to a fill in job as you could possibly have from your 3rd center. You give up the ability to switch at the 5 and have to play more drop (which was a big time issue, more on this later), but that's the tradeoff you accept with Luke minutes given all the other positives he brings. 

I will say, 1 defensive rebound in 30 minutes isn't exactly great, but overall I think it's fair to say Luke's performance exceeded expectations. He did his part. He continues to be a real weapon as a short roll passer, his OREBing is pretty important given we're living in a world where no Celtic can hit a jumpshot, and he pretty much always makes the right play. Good showing.

With Pritchard, you're looking at the entire bench scoring production. A total of 3 bench players touched the floor in this game, and Payton Pritchard was the only one to make a shot

20 of the 22 bench points were attributed to Pritchard, he finished with 20/6/1 on 7-12 (4-8) in his 32 minutes, and he certainly did everything he could in the 4th quarter to put the Celtics in a position to win, hitting big time three after big time three down the stretch in a 5-6 (3-4) 13 point quarter. 

The crazy thing? Pritchard had this exact same performance in the Raptors loss too. That was a game he finished with 20/2/4 on 7-11 (4-8) shooting. Talk about being annoying as fuck. Wasting these solid Pritchard showings off the bench is bullshit, especially when it's the starters and best players that are screwing things up. Down KP, that meant someone was going to have to make sure to pick up the offensive slack. In these shorthanded games, the bench scoring and bench shooting is even more important. It has to be efficient and it has to be productive.

Payton Pritchard did his job. Shame it was all in a loss. There should be no world in which you are getting efficient 20 point games from Pritchard off the bench against lesser competition and you're not winning that game. Just play to your standard, it cannot be this hard.

The Bad

- In some ways, it feels like a cop out to boil everything going on right now to a classic shooting slump. But when you watch these games, it's so clear that's really all this is. Just compare it to the ORL blowout the night before. Nothing about the scheme or the process changed. They generated open looks the same way and had a similar shot profile, even without KP. You make the adjustment to not having that post threat, but for the most part it was the same thing we've seen hundreds of times before.

The difference, was last night was back to the world where nothing goes in. Open looks, wide open looks, wide open fastbreak dunks, nothing is going in. 

The Celts defense was mostly fine in this game, as the Hawks only had 104 points at the end of regulation, and really things should have been under 100 had the Celts not puked on themselves. They were competitive on the glass (55-53). They were 20-23 from the FT line. The energy wasn't awful or anything, guys were all just complete bricks.

Think of when this stretch of inconsistent dogshit first started. Right around early December. Well, what has started happening since around that mark? 

Back when the Celts were 16-3, they had just 2 games of under 30% shooting from three, and they won them both. Then December hit and in the 23 games since, they've now had 7 (1-6). So while there have been defensive issues, ball security issues, and late game rebounding issues that have also contributed to their struggles, at the end of the day you have to be able to execute better than 30%. The fact that this is an entire roster issue is why it feels so bizarre. Collectively, nobody can shoot, and it's now becoming the norm to finish under 30%. Do you know how impossible that is? Especially for a team of this talent level?

When it was all said and done, the Celts finished with 38/28% splits. This coming after they shot 39/34% against the Raptors in that loss. Jaylen 9-27 which is gross. Tatum 7-21 which is gross. Derrick 7-20 which is gross. I mean what the fuck? These are your three best players in this game, and they go a combined 23-68 (9-34) with 8 TOs. At home. 

Compare all of this to the ORL win and you see why despite it feeling like a boring cop out easy answer, the only thing that really has to change is the shooting just has to get to league average. Stop missing every shot you take, and the Celts look drastically different. We're now about 1.5 months into this collective shooting rut, which doesn't seem possible. This isn't even opposing defenses either. This is guys being unable to make wide open looks

So annoying.

- When you play the Hawks, by now the Celtics should know two things. 

1. You have to take care of the basketball

2. You have to box out and keep them off the offensive glass

If you do those two things, you should be fine. If you do the opposite of those two things, you are going to lose. Which option do we think the Celtics chose?

Allow me to tell you a quick story. To open this game, the Celts got off to a great start. They took care of the basketball (1 TO), caused 6 themselves and did a decent job on the defensive glass, holding ATL to just 3 OREB. By the end of the first 12 minutes, they held a 12 point lead. Good start!

In the 2nd quarter, guess what happened? Their shooting went cold. To the tune of 23/0%! They scored just 15 points in the quarter! What else started to happen do you think? That's right, they started to turning the ball over. A total of 6 TOs in the quarter, the game completely flipped. Up 12 and then throwing up a 31-15 quarter at home is so bad I don't even know what to say, and the Celts put themselves in that position through poor shooting and poor ball security. Losing basketball. 

In the second half, it was the same thing. Brutal turnovers and brutal opponent OREBs. When it was all said and done, the Hawks finished with 19 2nd chance points and 15 points off TOs. Let me ask you, would you say those impacted the result? I would!

If anyone should know these are the two areas you have to win in a matchup with ATL, it should be the Celtics. They've literally lost games to this exact team doing this exact thing a handful of times already. Every ATL loss is the same. Poor shooting, inexplicable TOs and giving up back breaking crucial late game OREBs. It's exactly how they lost the November meeting, which is what makes it all so frustrating.

- As good as the Jays were against the Magic, they were equally as poor against the Hawks. Jaylen's issues coming on both ends of the floor, with his off ball defense being mostly a disaster for the entire night and his questionable decisions to double off good shooters, it was not a good defensive night for him even with his steals. He was good on the glass (11 rebounds) and passed the ball well (8 assists), and I do think he deserves credit for making the baseline turnaround to put the Celts ahead in the final seconds.

But overall, his performance was not good enough. Finishing 9-27 (2-9) with poor defense is not good enough. The execution on the final possession of OT was not good enough. 

With Tatum, I didn't have too many issues with him defensively, his issues were more on the other end. For long stretches, it felt like Tatum was only out there looking to do cardio. Nowhere near as aggressive as we saw against ORL. To his credit, Tatum carried the 3rd quarter. His offensive explosion is what flipped the game back into the Celts favor, and honestly, it ended up doing more harm than good. Because he was playing so well Joe had to leave him on the floor for the entire 3rd, as opposed to taking him out at the midway point so he could then start the 4th. That meant that Tatum wouldn't be out there to start the 4th in a close game, and while they mostly survived those minutes, once Tatum came back on the floor at around 7:55, he was a non-factor. 

He finished 0-3 from the floor in the 4th, and of course had the missed FT to go up 3 with 7 seconds left. Sorry, as the best player that simply cannot happen. This coming off him missing both against NO late, what the hell is going on? I need to be able to rely on Tatum putting the Celts up 3 in that position to end the game. Period. This isn't Jaylen and his shaky FTs late, this is Tatum. He's the guy you want at the line in that moment, and he bricked it. Further proof of the rut.

In OT, Tatum finished just 1-4 (0-3). So from 7:55 in the 4th to the end of OT, it was a 1-7 finish with a brutal missed FT. Not good enough. 

- If we've said it once we've said it a thousand times. Until the Celtics figure out their 4th quarter issues, they are going to continue to play mediocre and inconsistent basketball. Once again, their struggles in this quarter were all over this loss

These games sort of feel like we're trapped in some sort of Groundhog Day situation. All of these losses are the same. Awful shooting, awful ball security, and disaster 4th quarters. Look at the last 4 losses this team has had and tell me I'm wrong

36/27% last night, allowed 31 on 52% shooting, awful late game TOs and OREB, the fact that this team cannot close games out and play 4 consecutive quarters is the most inexplicable thing about their season. We can't even trust games in which the Celtics have leads heading into the 4th quarter! Their inability to get stops late in addition to their inability to make a shot is such a spectacular example of suck you almost have to be impressed. Not even the worst teams in the NBA are this bad in the 4th quarter. Think about that for a second. 

- We never really got an explanation for it because he wasn't asked after the game, but Joe's decision to close with Queta over Kornet certainly doesn't look as good in hindsight. Mostly because the majority of the Hawks points in OT came off Queta screw ups defensively.

Kornet started the OT period, and this was the Hawks very first bucket

Tatum turns his head and loses sight of his man, Johnson cuts to the open space and finishes over Kornet. At the next dead ball, Queta comes in for Kornet and closes the final 3:46 with the Celtics up 1 point.

What could have led Joe to make this move? I think you have to remember what we had seen up until that point. The Hawks had been feasting on drop coverage all night. They were great at finishing with floaters in the paint around Kornet. We also knew that down the stretch, the Hawks were most likely going to hunt a big and put them in a switch with Trae Young. 

In that moment, after seeing Johnson finish over Kornet like that, the idea of rim/paint protection needing an adjustment probably ran through Joe's brain. It also removes the drop coverage and gives you a better chance to switch, as long as everyone executes. Sadly, Queta did not.

When it came time to secure the biggest rebound of the game, staying with Queta ended up being a tough choice

Given the Queta minutes were a disaster pretty much right away, it's surprising that Joe never went back to Luke. Even with the drop coverage issues and the rim protection, I don't think he makes the mental defensive mistakes in those moments. We're not exactly at a time where we can be leaving games up to chance, and you could have put Luke back in at the stoppage at the 2 minute mark when things were tied at 113. 

Joe didn't, and again it proved to be costly

- Being 20-23 from the FT line but missing the one that mattered is such a fucking troll I don't even know what to say. Twist the knife why don't you. I mean come on.

The Ugly

- On one hand, you never lose faith in a lifetime 40% shooter. On the other hand, Sam Hauser's lack of production has been absolutely killing this team during this inconsistent stretch. There's really no other way to say it. A night like last night where his shooting is needed and he throws up a 0-7 (0-5) including missing wide open breakaway dunks, that stuff can't happen.

Hauser is just 5-20 from deep over his last 4 games, and it's no surprise that in any game this month he makes more than 1+ 3PM, the Celts win. When he makes 1 or under, they lose. Given the majority of his looks are open or wide open, the fact that he cannot make a shot right now is such a gut punch every single time. His ability to make the open safety valve 3s is so important, ESPECIALLY when Al or KP aren't there to do it. 

Of all the slumps, Hauser's and Whites definitely are felt the most, but given all the other things White does at least he can still impact games in other ways. Hauser, while his defense and rebounding has improved, is the shooter. That's his role. That's what he is primarily responsible for, and when this offense generates great looks for their shooter, he has to execute. You can't throw up 0-7 (0-5)s at home. 

- Alright, we can finally get to the end of the game. Frankly, it makes me nauseous to even think about. I must have been having a nightmare about it because I woke up at 3:30am this morning and every time I closed my eyes, all I saw was this

But let's take it from the top.

Jaylen Brown made this shot to give the Celtics the lead with under 30 seconds. Great ATO, great execution

All you're thinking now is just NO THREES. Whatever you do, no 3s, and if you foul you better make sure they don't get the ball on the rim for an AND1

On the ensuing possession, the Celts were gifted the prayers of all prayers. A key Hawks TO with around 20 seconds left

To add onto that, you got an even BIGGER prayer with Trae Young getting a tech because he thought he was getting grabbed. Now instead of up 2 with the ball and 20 seconds, you're up 3 with the ball and 20 seconds. It changes the entire dynamic of the finish. All you have to do is hold onto the ball, and you've effectively won the game. Even going 1-2 from he FT line would have been good enough.

What happened? Brace yourself

This is unthinkable. A player as smart as Jrue Holiday? Isn't this the exact situation he was traded for? I still cannot believe this happened. The game was over. You did it, you held them off and you just…..gave it away?

There's a lot of debate if Jrue should have just taken the layup to go up 5. Sure, I can understand that. But if you watch the play you can see Okongwu is headed right towards the rim, my guess is Jrue saw him flashing out of the corner of his eye and he decided to kill the clock.

That's not a bad decision. Killing the clock is a great idea! The mistake is dribbling to the sideline and then passing the ball. Just hold onto it and the Hawks will foul you. If you get trapped and panic, just call the timeout! You can do 2 things in that spot

1. Take the layup

2. Hold onto the ball

That's it. You'll notice passing was not an option for that situation, because it opens you to the possibility of a mistake, which is what we got. I don't even love the decision even if the pass was made cleanly. I'd much rather have Jrue at the line in that spot than Jaylen, so that's what makes it even more confusing.

To then make matters worse, Holiday fouled Trae Young after Tatum bricked the FT that would have put them up 3, and off to OT (and a loss) we went.

Holiday was accountable after the loss which is great, but we're past that. We need to get out of the business of punting winnable games, especially when they come by doing dumb shit.

- Not to be dramatic, but 40/20 is starting to get tight. The Celts now need 11-6 to get it, and make no mistake, nothing else matters if they don't make 40/20. That's not me saying it, that's NBA history. It would take a statistical anomaly for this team to win the title without hitting 40/20. Those are the stakes, and we're about to start a tough 4 game West Coast trip (and then return with HOU).

So what else is there to say. Another kick to the dick in what has been a month long stretch of being kicked in the dick. At some point this has to end, but in the meantime it sure is annoying as hell.