The Atlanta Hawks have made their first-round series with the Boston Celtics an interesting one with a major boost off the bench in the game’s second quarter, to the chagrin of Celtics fans everywhere. Boston taking their foot off the gas on defense against a desperate Hawks squad was the likely culprit. Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla revealed his take on what went wrong on Friday evening.
“We let some of their roll guys get hot,” explained Mazzulla to the media postgame via CLNS Media. “I thought the second quarter dictated the game where (Bogdan) Bogdanovic and (Saddiq) Bey made a huge difference when Trae Young went out.”
“I thought that gave them life, and I thought they played a pretty complete game,” he added. “In a close game like that, you not only want to focus on the end of the game, but you want to focus on the runs that led to that.”
Celtics Lab 183: Sizing up the Hawks series after an Atlanta win with Nick Gelso https://t.co/hXjrY0dPeG
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) April 22, 2023
“I think the slip-ups (on Boston’s end) came from their roll guys,” Mazzulla later explained. “The first two games, we gave them some open shots that they missed.”
“I thought those guys knocked them down tonight, and then they capitalize on those second chance opportunities for 23 points. So, I thought it was a combination of those two things.”
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