Forsberg: The key for Celtics getting back on track vs. Hawks? Urgency originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
The Boston Celtics have talked a lot about the lessons learned during last year’s NBA Finals run. Now it’s time to show it.
The Celtics’ defense got lost in transit to Atlanta, allowing the Hawks to breathe life into a first-round series that the Celtics previously dominated. Boston couldn’t corral a desperate Hawks team during Friday’s Game 3 loss and needs to bring a higher level of focus on Sunday.
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The Philadelphia 76ers are already in the clubhouse having dispatched the Brooklyn Nets in four games. That will afford superstar Joel Embiid a full week to rest a sprained right knee.
If you trust Doc Rivers that Embiid is “probably 50 percent, at best,” to be available for the start of the next round — although we suspect there is a fair bit of hyperbole there from Rivers — it would be in Boston’s best interest to finish off the Hawks as quickly as possible.
The conference semifinals are slated to tip off on May 1-2 but there’s potential for a move up to April 29-30. That should be motivation alone for the Celtics to try to finish off the Hawks in five games.
But Boston only needs to rewind to last year for an even firmer reminder of the importance of keeping fuel in the tank. The Celtics expended so much energy with two seven-game wars against the Bucks and Heat that the team was empty at the end of the Finals against Golden State.
The Hawks showed that, when Boston’s defense isn’t fully locked in, they can make things interesting with their offensive firepower and a relentless desire to collect offensive rebounds. The Celtics played from behind for much of Game 3 and could never quite get over the hump with Atlanta responding to every second-half charge.
Celtics’ Game 3 loss comes with an important reminder
Boston needs more from its superstars. It’s hard to quibble when Jayson Tatum is averaging 27.7 points — shooting 46 percent from the floor and 44.4 percent beyond the 3-point arc — while adding 10.3 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game. But Tatum hasn’t consistently gotten to the free-throw line and hasn’t had a night where he’s dominated the game. Tatum showed great maturity in taking the blame for Boston’s Game 3 losseven if much of what ails Boston runs much deeper than one player.
Jaylen Brown had a quiet Game 3 and needs to cut down the turnovers. The Hawks hunted Al Horford defensively, and he wasn’t up to his usual standards. After being super impactful in Games 1 and 2, Robert Williams III didn’t do enough to shore up Boston’s rebounding woes in Game 3. First-year coach Joe Mazzulla needs to come up with counters to prevent Atlanta from having that sort of offensive outburst.
Before the series, Brown worried about the Hawks being motivated against one of the East’s top seeds.
“We gotta come out and take care of business and do what we gotta do to move forward,” Brown said. “I think that Atlanta’s a good team. They’re young. We’ve been in that position before. The young guys coming in looking to make a name for themselves against one of the favorites. We can’t take our foot off the gas.”
Friday night felt more like a case of Atlanta playing to its peak than Boston necessarily downshifting with a 2-0 lead. The Celtics absolutely could have been sharper, but the Hawks got a monster output from their role players and the backcourt tandem of Murray and Young carried them to the finish line.
Now it’s on Boston to reassert itself. The Celtics can’t let these series linger if they plan to be playing two months from now. The Celtics need to show that they truly learned their lesson from last year.