A franchise-worst defensive quarter and offensive stagnation exposed deep-seated issues as the Hawks crumbled against the Celtics, revealing a fight for identity.
The Atlanta Hawks did not simply lose to the Boston Celtics on Saturday night. They unraveled. Atlanta’s 132-106 defeat to Boston at State Farm Arena was decisive well before the final buzzer, marked by a franchise-worst defensive quarter and a level of disconnection that felt jarring even for a team in transition.
By the time the fourth quarter arrived, the Hawks trailed by 43 points, the arena subdued, and the outcome long settled.
In the aftermath, Quin Snyder did not point to bad luck or hot shooting alone. He framed the loss as a failure of urgency, competitiveness, and collective habits — areas that have become increasingly fragile as the Hawks attempt to reorient themselves following major roster changes.
“I think there’s a number of factors. We’re coming back from a pretty good stretch of games where, as I talked about before the game, we were trying to find some juice. We didn’t have that, and when we talk about that, it manifests itself in competitiveness or urgency. That can show up at the point of a screen, in execution, or when someone makes a three and we don’t run hard enough to get spacing and get to the rim.”
That lack of pace was evident immediately. Atlanta opened the game without flow, settling into stagnant possessions that played directly into Boston’s hands.
“We didn’t run at all offensively at the beginning of the game. We didn’t have good possessions. We took contested mid-range shots without moving the ball, and that’s not who we are. That’s not how we play. Our commitment to some of those offensive principles was lacking, especially early. We’ve started finding a little of that, but it wasn’t enough.”
Any chance to stabilize vanished in the second quarter, when the Celtics erupted for 52 points — the most Atlanta has allowed in any quarter during the play-by-play era. While Snyder acknowledged the difficulty of integrating new players on the fly, he was clear that the breakdown went beyond unfamiliarity.
“Another part of it is we’re integrating a couple of new guys on the fly. When you do that, there are usually stretches like this. Players collectively don’t quite understand what we’re doing yet, it’s not habitual, and that interaction has to be found in real time. As that’s going on, we can’t give up a 52-point quarter. Our competitive focus on the defensive end during that stretch wasn’t where it needed to be, and that leads to breakdowns and poor execution. They made us pay.”
Boston repeatedly ran the same actions, and Atlanta repeatedly failed to respond. The defensive mistakes were layered — late coverage, poor communication, and hesitation compounding possession after possession.
“There’s a lot to it. If they’re running pick-and-roll and you’re not up far enough, someone hits a three. If you’re supposed to trap and you don’t, Jalen Brown goes by you and gets to the rim. If you trap correctly but don’t rotate to the roller, it’s a dunk. If you take that away but don’t rotate to the corner, it’s a three.
“We had all of that. When a team runs the same action two, three, four times in a row, your level has to rise. You have to deny the ball, take someone out of the play. We didn’t have the grit we needed. No coverage works without urgency and focus.
“We have a small margin. We’re not going to be perfect, but we have to try to be.”
That margin disappeared early, especially against Jaylen Brown, who scored 41 points and consistently collapsed the defense with physical downhill attacks.
“Early on, he was driving us. We talked about that before the game. We have to have more resistance. He’s physical, and when he gets his shoulder in and gets deep, we have to be more shifted, help more, and shrink the space.
“He scored a lot of different ways. They also scored in the open court when we turned it over or didn’t get good shots. Individually, no one really impacted him. When that’s the case, you need more collectively.
“In pick-and-roll situations, we trapped him at times, but our rotations weren’t sharp enough. In isolation, he went through us. When he’s attacking through you, you have to have more resolve.”
Despite the severity of the loss, Snyder rejected the idea of writing it off.
“Some games you flush. When a game doesn’t help you improve by watching it, you flush it. I don’t think this is one of those games. We need to understand why this happened. That’s where we are, and then we need to be ready.”
For the Hawks, readiness is the question that now lingers. The Celtics exposed more than defensive schemes or shooting variance. They revealed a team still searching for urgency, cohesion, and the habits that turn effort into structure. Until those pieces align, nights like Saturday will remain difficult to escape.