Jayson Tatum’s Biggest Regret From Brutal Celtics Performance Vs. Hawks

BOSTON — The Celtics didn’t play the on-brand basketball that’s made them the league’s reigning champions and they paid a tough price as a result.

Jayson Tatum scored a modest 20 points on 5-of-16 shooting from the field, including an even more modest 2-of-9 from 3-point range. However, on the second-biggest possession, a chance to potentially seal a victory for Boston and share a collective exhale with the TD Garden crowd in attendance, Tatum fell short.

It fell in line with the night-long theme for the Celtics but left Tatum expressing feelings of regret after Boston’s 117-116 NBA Cup-opening loss to the shorthanded Hawks. Soon after Atlanta’s Onyeka Okongwu put the Celtics behind, Tatum failed to corral an inbound pass from Jrue Holiday with 4.1 seconds remaining.

“I gotta grab the ball,” Tatum said postgame, per CLNS Media. “So that was on me.”

It wasn’t the end as the Hawks were charged with an out-of-the-blue turnover themselves, but Boston was doomed by its season-high 20 turnovers. Even with the final possession, Jaylen Brown’s 13-foot mid-range attempt at a game-winner couldn’t bail the Celtics out. The miscues were far too much, too constant and it was too late to alleviate the momentum Boston had given Atlanta by playing sloppy, uncharacteristic basketball.

Boston allowed Atlanta to rack up 20 offensive rebounds, watched Larry Nance Jr. drain gut-wrenching three after gut-wrenching three in the second half and missed five free-throw attempts — Brown missed three in the fourth quarter. That set the tone, making the final score a toss-up as the Hawks, who committed 15 turnovers without Trae Young, De’Andre Hunter and Bogdan Bogdanovic, were just inches better.

“It’s already tough to win in this league and when you give them second and third opportunities and you turn the ball over instead of getting the shot up, it just makes it tough for us,” Tatum said. “We didn’t play well enough to deserve the win, and they did.”

Everyone who spoke postgame out of Boston’s locker room shared an identical sentiment. The Celtics credited the Hawks for coming out and out-performing the title defenders, but Boston’s loss spoke more about its failures.

There aren’t many teams in the league capable of winning despite turning the ball over 20 times, being held to less than 30 points in the third and fourth quarters and watching as the opposing team logs 16 total steals. That’s a recipe for disaster on any given night and the C’s learned the hard way.