Freshly anointed as the top seed in the Eastern Conference, the Boston Celtics’ celebrations were dampened on Monday night against the Atlanta Hawks. Having led by as many as 30 points in the second quarter, the Celtics suffered a staggering collapse in the third quarter to give the lead away, and found themselves outplayed in crunch time to lose an absolute stunner of a game, 120-118.
Jayson Tatum led the shorthanded Celtics, playing as the nominal point guard and scoring 37 points. Jaylen Brown added 24 of his own, but struggled with efficiency, but struggled with his efficiency for much of the night.