Sometimes you’re the bug. Sometimes you’re the windshield. On this Wednesday night at TD Garden, the Boston Celtics were emphatically the bug—smeared across the glass in a humiliating 117-106 defeat to the Atlanta Hawks that felt like a cruel cosmic payback.
Just 11 days after dismantling the Hawks in Atlanta with everything breaking their way, the Celtics endured the exact opposite. From the opening tip, nothing fell. Easy looks clanged off the rim. Open threes turned into airballs. The offense stagnated into a series of forced, hopeless possessions. Meanwhile, Atlanta couldn’t miss from deep. The Hawks buried seven of their first ten three-pointers and finished the first half a ridiculous 11-of-23 from beyond the arc. Every Boston turnover—and there were plenty—was converted into easy transition buckets. By halftime, the game already felt over.
This wasn’t just a loss. It was a reality check delivered with a sledgehammer. The Celtics spent the entire night chasing a double-digit deficit they never truly threatened to erase, exposed on both ends by a Hawks team that played with far more hunger and precision.
The only flicker of life came in the third quarter, when Boston briefly trimmed the lead to nine. Credit a desperate bench surge sparked by second-year forward Baylor Scheierman, who brought an energy the starters couldn’t muster. He attacked the offensive glass relentlessly—grabbing two boards on one possession—and showed a newfound aggression putting the ball on the floor, driving into the paint, and initiating offense with confidence rarely seen from him at the pro level.
Joe Mazzulla eventually leaned fully into the reserves, rolling out a lineup of Scheierman, Jordan Walsh, Hugo Gonzalez, Sam Hauser, and Derrick White for the final seven minutes of the third. That group scrapped, hustled, and battled, giving the Celtics their closest margin since the early minutes. It wasn’t enough to complete the comeback, but their effort stood in stark contrast to the lethargy of the starters.
In the end, even the bench’s fight couldn’t mask the bigger truth: on this night, the Celtics were thoroughly outplayed, outhustled, and outshot. A brutal, sobering reminder that no team—no matter how talented—is immune to nights when everything goes wrong. For Boston fans, this one will sting for a while.