Welcome to the Morning Shootaround, where every weekday you’ll get a fresh, topical column from one of SI.com’s NBA writers: Howard Beck on Mondays, Chris Mannix on Tuesdays, Michael Pina on Wednesdays, Chris Herring on Thursdays and Rohan Nadkarni on Fridays.
BOSTON – The bottom officially fell out on February 24th, in Atlanta, when a winless road trip for the Celtics concluded with a lifeless performance against the Hawks. The offense was erratic (26% from three), the defense worse. Atlanta, then itself struggling to find an identity, connected on 53% of its shots—and a scorching 55% of its threes.