BOSTON – The Celtics have a lot of basketball ahead of them with the season only lasting a few weeks. But the defending champions have experienced their version of a mini-crisis in recent matches. The most recent data point was a 117-116 loss to the Hawks. Tuesday, because the C’s failed to defeat a numerically but physically disadvantaged Atlanta team.

This is a recent trend for the Celtics, amid some struggles. They lost to the Warriors at home last week. Then they followed that up with two wins against the Nets and Bucks, although they fell behind 16-2 in both games. they had to stage comeback victories. Recent play has therefore not lived up to their high standards, although they have still achieved victories during this period.

“I think we started those two games like (16-2),” Jayson Tatum said. “As starters, we need to start the game better. Today the first quarter wasn’t great, but we got back on top in the second quarter. We just let go of the rope to finish the third and start the fourth and it gave them life. And we just made it a little more difficult.

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C’s coach Joe Mazzulla was blunt after the loss, saying the Hawks dominated his team and the visitors deserved to win. The Celtics didn’t have that enthusiasm throughout Tuesday’s game as the Hawks were physical all night. Atlanta scored 68 points in the paint and grabbed 20 offensive rebounds, leading to an 18-7 advantage in second-chance points.

The start wasn’t necessarily the problem Tuesday as the teams fought a close game. But as Tatum pointed out, the Celtics were unable to stop the Hawks from mounting a comeback effort in the second half. Even though a 15-point lead doesn’t mean much in the modern NBA, the C’s still haven’t been able to maintain that advantage.

Jaylen Brown, the star of C, who returned in the last two matchespointed out the team’s turnovers – pinpointing the blame on himself and Tatum. The two combined for 11 of the team’s 20 turnovers as the pace of the game made it difficult to keep up. The Celtics have an opportunity to bounce back from a game Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in Brooklyn against the Nets. This should be a strong test for the C’s, as they were pushed by the Nets last week, as a young team will look to take down the defending champions after coming so close.

“Mentally, we were sloppy tonight,” Brown said. “We expected to win. Too sloppy and it showed. I think the No. 1 category he showed up in was our turnovers. It’s not typical for us to have 20 turnovers in total circumstance. I think it just shows that we weren’t in sync like we usually are, so we have to be better at this, and I have to be better at this.