They're in the same ball-park but the biggest difference is the Hawks are a much better shooting team.
This would be true even if AB and KO were healthy but obviously it's greatly exacerbated by their absence.
If the Celts were better on the boards, or at getting to the line, they could win despite the shooting disparity. Unfortunately, the Celts are very poor in those categories, especially compared to most playoff teams.
Yeah, it is a bad matchup. Even if we say the talent is even they matchup better. But they shouldn't be killing us. How does a team win 2 in a row and then get spanked? How do you score 7 points in a quarter? There is a mental breakdown. It started a few weeks to go in the regular season. it's a loss of confidence. When you think your shot is going to go in, somehow it has a better chance to. Thats why the nba is full of 10+ point streaks.
At some point, reality has to hit.
Even WITH a healthy Avery, KO & Jae, this team was 4th worst in FG% and 3rd worst in 3PT%.
Take those guys away, and this is a terrible outside shooting team. Horrific in fact. Isaiah and Jonas are the only other guys who shot above 30% from three.
Our half-court offense is predicated on getting penetration into the paint, primarily by Isaiah but also by Evan and by Amir on rolls.
So for a good defensive team like Atlanta, the defensive scheme is straightforward: Pack the paint and swarm Isaiah, at first when he had the ball, but in this last game, also to mug him constantly when he's trying to move off the ball. In last night, not only did they swarm to him when he had the ball, but they also did their best to deny him getting the ball. Isaiah was held to only 74 touches, compared to 92.5 per game in the first four games. Basically, Atlanta is doing everything to remove the use of the paint and Isaiah from the offense and are completely allowing the rest of the the Celtics to try to shoot their way to a victory from the outside.
If you look at the contested shots stats and the shot locations, the C's actually did generate plenty of decent looks last night. They had a boat load of open threes and shots within 8 feet of the hoop. But they missed them at a terrible rate.
In the cozy confines of the Garden, the team made those shots and we won. Atlanta is betting that the Cs will not be able to make enough of those shots to win the series. Unless we can shoot better on the road, they will be right.
How much of that is 'mental'? I dunno. Shooting skill does have a 'mental' aspect to it. Would having more veterans on the team help? Maybe. Veteran shooters may be more consistent and less prone to streakiness. Or not. I remember Jason Terry, a pretty steady 3PT shooter for most of his career, went through two consecutive seasons where he shot fantastic (43%) at home and horrible (31%) on the road. This extreme split afflicted both his last season in Dallas and then the next season with us. After he left Boston, that bizarre road split went away. He actually shot slightly _better_ on the road the next two seasons. Go figure.
But aside from the question of streakiness, it is definitely the case that veterans tend to shoot better than really young players. The vast majority of players shoot their worse FG% during their rookie and second seasons of their career.
I think that, ultimately, we just plain need better shooters on the team. In some cases, that means we need different players. But it also could just mean we need some of our young players to have more experience.
