BOSTON — From the very start of the game, the Boston Celtics had nothing. Their entire offense was stifled by the Atlanta Hawks, who continued a streak of teams playing Boston very physically.
The Portland Trail Blazers did it on Monday night, and the Brooklyn Nets and Detroit Pistons did it before them. Boston has found ways around it, but on Wednesday against Atlanta, the combination of physicality and the Hawks’ hot shooting proved disastrous.
Atlanta started the game 7-of-12 from deep range in the first quarter. The first two came in transition, and after that, even the contested ones began going in. It was payback for the three-point onslaught Boston unleashed back on January 17.
Luka Garza gave Boston some life. His work on the offensive glass gave their offense a small dose of consistency when nothing else was working. And in the third quarter, Derrick White’s shot-making did the same.
But something else happened in the third. Baylor Scheierman happened.
Hustle. Grit. Craftiness. He was doing everything he could to lift Boston back into this ballgame. Two of his shots went halfway down before bouncing out, but that didn’t slow him down.
He was a playmaker for the Celtics' offense, he stripped the ball from Luke Kennard, he drew an offensive foul, and he even bullied CJ McCollum in the post. The only reason Boston had a prayer going into the fourth was because of him (and White).
When the fourth began, Boston went back to some of their regulars, but it didn't work. The offense reverted to struggling rather than scrapping, and the defense allowed far too many easy baskets.
The same spark that Scheierman, Jordan Walsh, and Hugo Gonzalez gave Boston in the third was gone.
Atlanta battled their way back to a 20-point lead, and Boston wilted. That was that.
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Big winner: Scheierman. This is why Joe Mazzulla plays Scheierman. These types of moments.
There's something unique about the way he carries himself on the court. The confidence. The swagger. When Onyeka Okongwu pulled him down in transition, and the refs went to the monitors to check for a Flagrant foul, he riled up the TD Garden crowd on his way back to the bench.
He's the perfect blend of hustle and talent for this Boston roster, and the third quarter showed that.
Ouch, tough one: Jaylen Brown. This was not Brown's best night. He couldn't find anything close to a rhythm the entire game.
Atlanta did a great job of pressuring him and Boston's other ball-handlers, but they did it differently than last time around. Rather than bringing Okongwu up to the level, they fought hard around screens and only sent doubles when they had someone covering the easy next pass.
Brown forced up a few bad shots, and when none of them fell, it became clear that Wednesday wasn't his night.
He made up some ground in the fourth, but by then, it was too late.
(White is the unfortunate honorable mention here. He was whiffing some easy looks for most of the night, but his strong stretch in the third was much-needed.)
The big picture: There is officially a trend: Teams are upping their pressure against Boston. And they're slowly finding the best ways to do so.
The same quality looks that Brown and the rest of the lineup generated earlier in the season are no longer there. In their place are tough, iso-heavy performances that don't often bode well.
Boston has found ways around physicality before, but Wednesday night, they did not.
