Takeaways from Celtics vs. Hawks: C’s blow a 30-point lead in a devastating loss

Takeaways from Celtics vs. Hawks: C’s blow a 30-point lead in a devastating loss‌‏

 

‏There article “Celtics-Hawks: C’sblow 30-point lead in stunning loss” was first published on NBC Sports Boston.

On Monday night, the Boston Celtics suffered one of their worst losses in recent memory, ending their nine-game winning run.

It looked at first like the C’s would easily defeat their opponent from the Eastern Conference. They shot out to an early 22-point lead, exploding for 44 first-quarter points, their seventh 40-point first-quarter of the season. They also tied the NBA record and established a new franchise record with their 17th 70-point first half of the season.

The C’s and Hawks will play again on Thursday night in Atlanta. Here are three things to remember from Monday’s event before we anticipate the rematch.

Until the first quarter of the game, every indication was that this would be one of the Celtics’ largest blowout victories of the year. They scored 44 points in the first quarter and 74 points in the second half, with their “Big Three” of Kristaps Porzingis, Jayson Tatum, and Jaylen Brown combining for 51 points through the first two frames to lead by as much as thirty.

There were little over four minutes remaining in the second quarter when everything went south. In only eight and a half minutes, the Hawks scored a scorching 37 points to cut Boston’s 30-point lead to three.

After trailing the Hawks 34–22 in the third quarter, the Celtics struggled even more in the fourth quarter, when the Hawks took their first lead of the game. With 9.2 seconds remaining, De’Andre Hunter’s game-winning 3-pointer gave Atlanta the lead permanently during a back-and-forth last few minutes.

Boston’s 30-point advantage that was wasted was the biggest it has had in the regular season since 1996. Joe Mazzulla’s squad will want this kind of performance out of its system by the time the playoffs start, even though this game doesn’t really matter to them because they already secured the best seed in the East.

With a 50-4 record this season when shooting at least 33.3 percent from three-point range, the Celtics went into Monday. When firing under that barrier, they are now 7-11.