A look back at the many ways the Hawks choked away Game 4 against the Celtics

Standing still and letting the clock out run proved to be an ineffective final play for Atlanta.

With 33 seconds left in the first half on Sunday, an Isaiah Thomas hoop put the Celtics up 46-45.  Boston then failed to score for the next 5:11 of game time, and the Hawks used a 17-0 run to build a 62-46 lead midway through the third quarter.

Things were looking bleak for the C's, but some spectacular play from Thomas, Marcus Smart and Jonas Jerebko helped get them back in it.  Maybe of even greater significance though, was the fact that Atlanta also inexplicably lost the ability to put the ball in the basket:


After blowing the 16-point lead, a pair of late three-pointers from Jeff Teague rescued the Hawks and put them back up by two with only 20 seconds remaining in the ballgame.  However, a breakdown on defense let Thomas slip through the lane and tie things up with 15 seconds to go:


Still, Atlanta had plenty of time to win the game in regulation.  But the Hawks didn't bother to actually run a play, and they never even got a shot off:


Really?  How about giving it to the guy who went for 45 that night?

Despite all of this, Atlanta had an opportunity to redeem itself in overtime.  That didn't go so well:


The Celtics outscored the Hawks 12-3 in the extra period en route to a 104-95 victory.  Amazingly, Atlanta hasn't won an overtime game, regular season or playoffs, in more than two years:


Boston is 10-1 all time in the postseason against Atlanta.  I'm starting to like the chances of it becoming 11-1.




Follow Mark Van Deusen on Twitter @LucidSportsFan