After the Boston Celtics blew a 30-point lead to the Atlanta Hawks, Celtics players spoke to NBA reporters about the major collapse.
The Celtics, who have the best record in the NBA at 57-15, were outscored by the Hawks 34-22 in the third and 30-22 in the fourth.
“We was up a lot and we f— the game up and we know that,” Celtics star Jayson Tatum said, via The Athletic. “We’re all adults and professionals and we know we didn’t do the things necessary to win and I think that’s sometimes easier to fix.”
The Celtics lost to the Hawks by a final score of 120-118. It’s the worst loss of the season for Boston considering they were up 30.
“We was up 30 and kinda took our foot off the gas and it cost us,” Celtics star Jaylen Brown said. “We just took our foot off the gas, mindset, and they just got confidence. And at that point it’s tough to beat anybody when they got it rolling.”
The Celtics had a nine-game winning streak heading into the Hawks game. They will look to get revenge against Atlanta on March 28.
“We relaxed, which is natural,” Celtics star Kristaps Porzingis said. “You go up 30, you feel like everything’s just smooth and you relax… and to that type of team, if you relax too much to give them some open looks, those guys can make shots. They’re an offensive-minded team and they got going and then it’s a tough battle to kind of bring it back to where we want it. And yeah, they played a competitive game and we just gave them too much life.
“You know, it’s the NBA. These kind of things happen. Of course, we just don’t want to make this a habit, you know, and it hasn’t been a habit for us. We just, we slipped one game and we did relax a little bit and we paid the price.”
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