Forsberg: What would it take for the Celtics to win against the Hawks? Urgency

The Boston Celtics have spoken extensively about the lessons they took away from their trip to the NBA Finals a year ago. Show it off right now.

The defence of the Celtics was compromised while being transported to Atlanta, allowing the Hawks to resurrect a Celtics-dominated first-round series. Boston has to focus more intently on Sunday after failing to contain a frantic Hawks squad in Game 3 on Friday.

The Philadelphia 76ers defeated the Brooklyn Nets in four games and are already inside the clubhouse. Superstar Joel Embiid will get a full week to rest his strained right knee as a result.

Forsberg: What would it take for the Boston Celtics

It would be in Boston’s best interest to eliminate the Hawks as soon as possible if you believe Doc Rivers when he says that Joel Embiid is “probably 50 percent, at best,” to be ready for the start of the next round. However, we assume that Rivers may be exaggerating a bit here.

There is a chance that the conference semifinal games will start earlier than May 1-2, on April 29–30. The Celtics should use that as fuel to attempt to defeat the Hawks in five games.

For an even stronger reminder of the need of having fuel in the tank, Boston simply needs to look back to last year. By the time of the Finals versus Golden State, the Celtics had used up all of their energy from two seven-game clashes with the Bucks and Heat.

The Hawks shown that they can make things interesting with their offensive firepower and tireless pursuit of offensive rebounds when Boston’s defence isn’t completely locked in. In Game 3, the Celtics struggled to overcome their deficit for a large portion of the game as Atlanta repelled every attempt in the second half.

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Boston’s superstars must provide more. It is difficult to find fault with Jayson Tatum’s performance when he averages 27.7 points, 10.3 rebounds, and 4.3 assists a game while shooting 44.4 percent from beyond the arc and 46% from the field. However, Tatum hasn’t regularly reached the free-throw line and hasn’t had a game-winning performance. Even while a lot of Boston’s problems go far deeper than just one player, Tatum shown excellent maturity in accepting responsibility for the team’s Game 3 defeat.

Jaylen Brown has to reduce his turnovers after a lacklustre performance in Game 3. Defensively, the Hawks pursued Al Horford, who wasn’t playing to his normal calibre. Robert Williams III failed to make enough of an effect in Game 3 after having a huge influence in Games 1 and 2. To stop Atlanta from having such an explosive explosion, rookie coach Joe Mazzulla must devise countermeasures.

Brown was concerned that the Hawks would be motivated against one of the East’s top seeds before to the series.

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Brown declared, “We’ve got to get out there and take care of business and do what we’ve got to do to move forward.” “I believe Atlanta to be a terrific team. They are kids. We have experienced the situation previously. In contrast to one of the favourites, the young men arriving in search of fame. We are unable to release the gas pedal.

On Friday, it appeared that Atlanta was performing at its highest level rather than Boston necessarily slowing down with a 2-0 lead. The Hawks were lifted to victory by the backcourt combination of Murray and Young and a monster performance by their supporting players, as opposed to the Celtics, who definitely could have played better.

Boston must now establish itself once more. If the Celtics want to be playing in two months, they can’t let these series go on. The Celtics must demonstrate that they have really internalised their lessons from last season.