Celtics outplayed in 'every facet' in upset NBA Cup loss to Hawks

BOSTON — Eight days after handing the Hawks a 30-point home loss, the Celtics couldn’t put away a depleted version of the same Atlanta team.

Boston squandered a 15-point second-half lead Tuesday night and lost, 117-116, at TD Garden in their 2024 NBA Cup opener.

Onyeka Okongwu’s put-back with six seconds remaining proved to be the game-winner for Atlanta, which was playing without six of its players, including All-Star point guard and leading scorer Trae Young.

Jaylen Brown stole the ensuing inbounds pass and had a chance to win it for the Celtics, but his 13-footer at the buzzer missed the mark.

“I think mentally, we were too careless,” Brown said. “We expected to win. Too careless, and it showed.”

The loss spoiled strong scoring efforts by Brown (37 points) and Derrick White (31), who combined for 68 points on Boston’s bright-green NBA Cup court. Jayson Tatum finished with 20 points — his second-lowest total of the season — and five turnovers and looked hindered at times by the ankle injury he suffered during Sunday’s win in Milwaukee.

Tatum went 2 for 9 from 3-point range, including a miss with 23.1 seconds left that would have put the Celtics up four. He also couldn’t corral an inbounds pass from Jrue Holiday after Okongwu’s decisive tip-in, which came off one of Atlanta’s 20 offensive rebounds.

“They outplayed us, every facet of the game,” Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla said. “They beat us on all the margins, and they deserved to win.”

Tatum has fueled most of the Celtics’ first quarters this season, but Boston played through Brown in this one. The NBA Finals MVP scored 12 of his team’s first 16 points, shaking off the occasional rust he showed Sunday after missing the previous four games with a hip flexor strain.

Brown outscored all of his Celtics teammates 16-15 in the quarter. Tatum added eight points to move past Tommy Heinsohn and into 12th place on Boston’s all-time scoring list. (He’ll likely enter the top 10 by the end of this season, as he now sits 79 points behind Bill Sharman, 980 behind Jo Jo White and 984 behind Dave Cowens.)

Overall, though, it was another inauspicious start for the Celtics, who trailed early for the third consecutive game. The severely short-handed Hawks were able to generate frequent second-chance opportunities, with Clint Capela and No. 1 overall draft pick Zaccarie Risacher combining for eight offensive rebounds in the first quarter alone.

“Our starts have been pretty bad,” White said. “So that’s on us as the starting five. It’s not really like us to come out and have to question our readiness, especially with the group we have. We’ve got to be better to start games, for sure.”

Boston wasn’t able to create any real separation until more than halfway through the second quarter, when a 3-pointer from White and two from Al Horford spearheaded a 13-3 Celtics run. Brown then closed out the half with a flourish, slamming home an alley-oop from White and then drawing a foul as time expired. His two free throws put Boston ahead 65-64 at halftime.

That drawn foul came after Atlanta’s Jalen Johnson was whistled for traveling with 1.1 seconds remaining in the half. The Garden crowd roared when Mazzulla subbed in Payton Pritchard, the NBA’s foremost expert in buzzer-beating heaves. But Pritchard was well covered, so Tatum’s inbounds pass instead went to Brown, who found time and space to put a shot up before the horn.

The Celtics led by as many as 15 points in the third quarter, but the Hawks hung around, ripping off a 9-0 run to cut that deficit to four. Sloppiness with the ball was a persistent issue against a swarming Atlanta team that came in ranked second in the NBA in steals per game.

The Hawks notched 16 steals to Boston’s seven, and the Celtics committed 20 total turnovers, including 11 by their top duo of Tatum and Brown. That disparity, plus its efficiency on the offensive glass, allowed Atlanta to attempt 25 more shots than Boston (100-75).

“They played harder, and they played more physical than we did,” Mazzulla said. “They got 20 offensive rebounds and forced us into 20 turnovers. You let a team outshoot you by a shot margin like that, and you’re not going to win.”

Late-quarter 3s by Pritchard and Sam Hauser sent Boston into the fourth up 91-84. White hit two more in the ensuing four minutes, but a Johnson jumper with 7:21 remaining tied the game at 97-97.

After a rough 60-second span in which he allowed fill-in point guard Keaton Wallace to drive past him for a baseline dunk, turned the ball over and then committed an offensive foul, Brown briefly redeemed himself by burying a corner 3 that put the Celtics up 107-104 with 4:16 remaining.

Then, after Brown failed to extend Boston’s cushion by missing three of four field goals, he and White hit 3s in quick succession, followed by a Brown jumper in the lane.

But defensive stops proved elusive for the Celtics. The Hawks scored on four straight possessions in the final minutes, with two of those baskets coming off offensive rebounds. Five players scored in double figures for Atlanta, with Daniels leading the way with 28 points and Johnson recording an 18-point, 10-rebound, 10-assist triple-double.

Larry Nance Jr. (19 points) and Okongwu (15 points) went a combined 14 for 21 to lead a Hawks bench that outscored Boston’s 38-12. Atlanta also held a massive 68-32 edge in points in the paint.

Asked whether the Celtics’ rim protection needs to be better, Mazzulla replied: “Absolutely.”

“We got cross-matched on them a few times, but they got rebounds and layups on everybody,” the coach said. “Bigs, smalls, mediums. They just outplayed us, both ends of the floor.”

Brown also lamented Atlanta’s clear lanes to the rim.

“We just gave away too many layups in this game, and defensively, it cost us,” he said. “That on top of the turnovers — that was the seal for this game.”

The Celtics now will look to rebound on short rest when they visit the Nets on Wednesday. Tatum said his ankle felt “a little tender” after he appeared to tweak it late in the game, but that he planned to play against Brooklyn.