The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly From The Hawks Blowout Loss vs the Celtics

The Hawks had their losing streak extended last night when they were blown out by the Boston Celtics

Jan 17, 2026; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Hawks forward Corey Kispert (24) grabs a rebound past Boston Celtics guard Hugo Gonzalez (28) in the fourth quarter at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

It was not a good night for the Atlanta Hawks.

Atlanta hung around for the first quarter of the game against the Celtics, trailing only 30-23, but things quickly went the other way. The Hawks gave up 52 points in the second quarter alone and were trailing 82-51. The second half saw the Hawks unable to close the gap with the Celtics and Atlanta lost by 26.

Let's break down the good, the bad, and the ugly from last night's game.

The Good

Good things in a 26 point loss? It was hard to find them, but there were some subtle things that I noticed that I think could be something to watch.

I thought Corey Kispert looked comfortable in this game was fairly aggressive. He scored 16 points and shot 5-11 from the field and 2-5 from three. The Hawks are going to need more performances like this from Kispert going forward.

While it was in garbage time, Asa Newell (10 points and 2 rebounds) and RayJ Dennis (4 assists and 1 steal in five minutes) played hard.

The Bad

It was tough to distinguish the bad and the ugly in this game.

• Jalen Johnson has had a rough three games and it is not surprising that that has coincided with the Hawks losing three straight games. Last night, Johnson finished 4-14 (2-6 from three) and had 12 points, eight rebounds, and five assists. He could not get to his spots in the paint and had little to no effect on the game.

• The Hawks lost the rebounding battle again and that is becoming a theme for this team. The Hawks are still missing Kristaps Porzingis and don't have a viable backup option at center, making it tough for them to win any battles on the glass. The Celtics are not known to have a strong duo at center, but they had no problem against the Hawks.

• Atlanta finished with a 97.7 offensive rating, a 48.4 true shooting percentage, and a 44.6 effective field goal percentage.

• Vit Krejci had 3 points in 18 minutes

The Ugly

• The defense was a disaster all game long. The Celtics shot 51% from the field and 42% from three. They also had a 65.6 effective true shooting percentage and a 62.6 effective field goal percentage. Giving up 52 points in a quarter is unacceptable and this is the second time in the last three games that the Hawks have give up over 80 points in the first half (Lakers scored 81 on Tuesday).

• Jaylen Brown had one of the most effortless 40 point efforts that you will see. The Hawks also allowed Sam Hauser to make 10 three pointers, including seven of his first eight. There were too many defensive issues to name, but the Hawks really need Dyson Daniels, Zaccharie Risacher, and Kristaps Porzingis to get healthy if this team hopes to make anything of their season.

• The defense was bad, but the offense did the Hawks no favors. They shot less than 40% from the field and just 33% from three.

• The Hawks are now 20-24 and now back in 10th place in the Eastern Conference. This team is by no means guaranteed to even make the play-in tournament at the rate they are playing, but the good news for them is that they have the easiest schedule remaining in the NBA and have plenty of homes games (though they have not been very good at home).