While Jayson Tatum finally found his offensive rhythm in a 110-99 loss to Atlanta, the Celtics (7-8) had little from secondary sources. The Hawks (7-9), however, had four players score at least 18 points in a balanced effort that improved their home record to 6-1.
Tatum got himself going early, scoring 11 first-quarter points to keep Boston within striking distance. The end of the first half proved to be the difference as Atlanta stretched their lead to 9 at the break.
After the Celtics clawed their way back to down just 70-66 in the middle of the third quarter, a pair of Bogdan Bogdanovic threes ballooned the Hawks lead back to 10. Boston never quite made another push, failing to get within less than 8 points for the remainder of the night.
For a team missing Jaylen Brown, the Celtics failed to find enough offense off the bench or enough support in the starting lineup for Tatum’s 34-point effort.
Here are individual grades for the Celtics in their loss:
