Trae Young hurt the Celtics in a variety of ways, even though he wasn’t scoring at a particularly high clip — 18 points on 4-for-12 shooting and 0-for-6 from behind the arc.
When the Hawks get that much production from their guards, the rest of the team becomes difficult to defend.
When the Hawks doubled him, he moved the ball well, and his paint touches collapsed the Hawks’ defense.
In other words, Tatum did exactly what he needs to do on a nightly basis until the fourth quarter.
“We had a countless amount of wide-open threes in the fourth quarter that could have obviously changed the tide, so he’s being unselfish and doing what’s asked of him.
Young and Huerter were good, but perhaps the biggest difference was the disparity in bench scoring: The Hawks outscored the Celtics 32-11.
Romeo Langford has shown flashes as a shooter, defender, and ball-handler this season, although he is yet to piece together all three facets of his game simultaneously.
On Wednesday, Marcus Smart dished out 11 assists and only a small handful could be considered “cheap.” He drew two defenders and found Williams on the first.
Smart is the Celtics’ leader in efficiency differential, per Cleaning the Glass, meaning the Celtics outscore opponents by 15.8 points per 100 possessions when he is on the floor.
To celebrate the NBA’s 75th season, NBC Sports Boston revisits memorable moments in Celtics history.