As Big Decisions Loom At Tomorrow's Trade Deadline, the Hawks Lose on the Road to the Celtics

For the first time in the month of February, the Atlanta Hawks went on the road. Atlanta just wrapped up a six-game home stand with a loss to the LA Clippers on Monday and had to go on the road to face the top team in the NBA, the Boston Celtics.

This was the second time this season that the Hawks have faced the Celtics, with Boston winning big in the last matchup. Boston was a huge favorite tonight against the short-handed Hawks, but Atlanta had won four of their last five games and have been playing better over the past week or so.

The Hawks continued to play well tonight, but it was not going to be enough against the best team in the league. Boston would win the game 125-117 and sent the Hawks to their second straight loss and a 22-29 record. Tomorrow could potentially be an interesting day for the Hawks and the team could look different by tomorrow afternoon.

Despite the loss, the Hawks have played what are the two best teams in the NBA right now in the last two games and had opportunities to win them both. While that might not mean a lot to most, there should not be any panic over losing to the Celtics or the Clippers.

Let's talk about how tonight's game went.

After not appearing on the injury report yesterday, Dejounte Murray was downgraded to questionable, and then shortly before the game, he was ruled out. That meant that Bogdan Bogdanovic was going to get the start in his place and Bogdanovic, Trae Young, Saddiq Bey, Jalen Johnson, and Onyeka Okongwu were the first five on the floor for the Hawks.

The Celtics were not at full strength either. Jrue Holiday was ruled out a few hours before the game and Boston would start Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Al Horford, and Kristaps Porzingis.

In the game preview, I wrote this morning, I talked about how Boston led the league in three-point attempts and that for the Hawks's porous defense to have any chance of staying in the game, they were going to need to force a lot of missed threes and make Boston score at the rim, which they are just average in doing. Atlanta's offense was going to have a tough matchup on their hands, even in the absence of Holiday, so the defense was going to have to make Boston win a different way.

Though Boston scored plenty of points early, it was not because of their elite three-point shooting.

Early on in the game, Saddiq Bey began what ended up being perhaps his best half of the season. He scored seven of the Hawks's first 12 points and at the 7:03 timeout, Atlanta led 12-11. Bey was making his mark on the game early. Patty Mills and De'Andre Hunter came in after the timeout and after playing 19 minutes in the last game against the Clippers, it was going to be interesting to see how many minutes head coach Quin Snyder was going to let him play.

Hunter had a big impact right away, nailing a three-pointer and getting fouled in the process. He finished the four-point play and started his stint off strong.

The first quarter would also be the Hawks's best quarter. They led 37-34 at the end of the quarter and held Boston to 3-10 from three. Young had 11 points and Bey had 10 to lead the way for Atlanta.

While Tatum and Brown are going to get the headlines for the Celtics, it was their big men that did the most damage in the first half.

Boston was not shooting well from three, but Porzingis and former Atlanta Hawk Al Horford were getting whatever they wanted. They found mismatches on offense and helped to keep the Hawks's offense at bay.

The Celtics led 71-67 and with the Hawks down two normal starters, that was an accomplishment through one half.

Facing an elite Celtics defense, Atlanta shot 46% from the field and 38% from three. Boston shot a really good 57% from the field in the first half, but only 30% from three. 38 of the Celtics' 71 first-half points were in the paint.

Bey had his best half of the whole season in the first half tonight. He scored 18 points and shot 7-10 from the field. Bey has his problems on defense, but he makes up for it when he can score the basketball.

Young had 15 points and four assists in the first half. Oknogwu had 11 points and seven rebounds.

Porzingis had 16 points and Horford had 14 points, four rebounds, and three assists. He was 4-6 from three.

The third quarter followed the pattern of the first half. It was back and forth and was setting up for a big fourth quarter.

The second half was not as prolific for the Hawks in terms of shooting and while Boston was not great, they were better than Atlanta and that is what turned a close game into a comfortable Celtics win.

Despite Boston shooting much better than Atlanta in the third (particularly Porzingis, who had eight points), they had seven turnovers and that kept the Hawks in the game. Boston led 95-90 going into the final frame.

A big run in the fourth quarter sealed the Hawks's fate. The Celtics went on an 8-2 run at the beginning of the quarter to make it a 109-98 game and Atlanta spent the rest of the quarter trying to play catchup. They got the lead down to five in the final minute, but the Celtics responded and won by eight. After scoring 30 points in each of the first two quarters, the Hawks failed to do that in either the third or the fourth quarter.

For the game, Atlanta shot 42% from the field and 32% from three. Those are not good enough numbers to beat a team like Boston.

After scoring 18 points in the first half, Bey only scored seven in the second and finished with 25 points. Young finished with 20 points and 10 assists, but was pretty ineffective in the second half. Jalen Johnson finished with 19 points, 15 rebounds, and four assists.

Boston shot 53% from the field and 35% from three. Porzingis led the way with 31 points on 13-19 shooting.

The Hawks just did not have the defense or the shot-making to beat an elite team on the road, which does happen. They are pretty common themes for the season and they might be addressed tomorrow.

Or they may not.

The Hawks's next game will be on the road Friday night against Philadelphia.

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