5 takeaways while Trae Young’s 40 points lift Hawks over Jayson Tatum, Celtics

After an encouraging win against the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday, the Boston Celtics stumbled again on Wednesday, falling to the Atlanta Hawks by 122-114.

Here are five lessons from yet another uninspiring Celtics defeat.

The Celtics’ perimeter defense was, at best, meaningless.

Boston’s defense fell off a cliff, destroyed mainly by Trae Young. Young finished with 40 points from 14 of 20 shots and destroyed the Celtics in the fourth period. The rest of the Hawks played a lot, however, as the Celtics’ internal defense was catastrophic. Atlanta finished with 72 points from 68 percent of shots in the arc.

“I thought our perimeter defense made it very difficult for us to defend against painting,” said Brad Stevens. “Our guys protecting us, whether spinning or pick-and-roll, there were times when our biggest guys were certainly defeated and that sort of thing, but I’m not sure we had a big impact on them on the ball, certainly not the way they impacted us. “

A lot of blame can be attributed to the squad, but the Celtics’ perimeter defense has been trying hard to keep opponents from getting where they want to, and talented guards like Young and Bradley Beal have been celebrating recently. This is a disturbing trend, no matter how talented the opponent is.

Retrieving Marcus Smart, whenever that happens, will certainly help, but as anyone who has watched the Celtics in recent weeks can tell, asking him to fix everything that’s going wrong on the perimeter is asking a lot.

Aaron Nesmith is willing to throw himself after missing balls.

Nesmith, like most Celtics newcomers in recent years, seems to have discovered that the way to get to the ground is by defending. He’s doing this with enthusiasm – throwing his body all over the court and moving through the transition. At some point in the fourth period, Nesmith suffered a frightening fall while chasing a block in the transition, and he may need to learn to fall a little more gracefully to avoid injury.

But Nesmith is showing flashes of skills and athletics that were not especially evident in Vanderbilt. When his 3-point kick arrives – and it will almost certainly happen – he will be an intriguing player. Sooner would be better than late for Boston.

The Celtics will receive something from Robert Williams.

More and more, Robert Williams looks like a rotating player. The Celtics can safely expect him to give something to both ends.

The only question is what this “something” will be. Defensively, he is still nervous and, at this stage, one wonders how much his tendency to jump at each bomb counterfeit will improve over the years. But he is an intimidating presence around the edge, and manages to rebound with big hands and a large catch radius.

Offensively, he does things like that.

😱 pic.twitter.com/vcW0DbqWj4

– Boston Celtics (@celtics) February 18, 2021

Tristan Thompson keeps the defenders ahead of him. Daniel Theis – when he’s available – can switch. Grant Williams can play small ball. The Celtics have a lot of greats, and trying to get them all in the game is kind of complicated. But Williams promises a lot, and when the big spin is reduced by necessity, he has a chance to show it.

With Kemba Walker and Marcus Smart out, the Celtics beat the guards.

Brad Stevens’ decision to start Javonte Green in place of Kemba Walker was an interesting one – he has already hinted that he may want to eliminate this line-up at times. With two main ball handlers available, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, the group looked fine, even though Atlanta paraded over and over to the edge.

The look didn’t change the game much, and the Celtics played as a point guard – Teague or Payton Pritchard – for most of the rest of the game, but it was a reminder of how desperate the Boston point guard’s situation is now.

Should Celtics switch to John Collins?

Collins finished with 20 points on the 6 of 9 pitch on Wednesday, and he continued the recent trend to give the Celtics a good look at a player they are linked to in exchange rumors.

Collins is having a solid season – 18.1 points and 7.6 rebounds per game, with 54.4% of pitches and 41.1% of depth. He would certainly help with a problem that the Celtics have often faced: the lack of a true striker of strength, who forced Daniel Theis four times. Spacing between floors would also help.

Still, as the Celtics broadcast noted, money would be difficult. Collins is clearly expecting a big payout after he reportedly declined a $ 90 million off-season deal, and it would be an expensive acquisition. The expenses to acquire it would basically handcuff the Celtics to pay for it, and other teams would probably be willing to offer you money and raise the price.

Collins is a good player and the idea of ​​trading for him without using TPE is attractive. The bill – both in assets and in real dollars – can be very high, however.