The Boston Celtics suffered two brutal defeats to the Atlanta Hawks on Monday and Thursday, but that doesn't mean they didn't learn anything. Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla was experimenting in those losses and trying out new things ahead of the 2024 NBA Playoffs.

On Monday, the C's blew a massive 30-point lead and ended up falling 120-118. Boston didn't have its usual starting five though, resulting in forward Sam Hauser getting the rare start and a few other players receiving unusual minutes. For example, 21-year-old guard Jaden Springer was given his most important minutes as a Celtic, playing 11 minutes instead of his season average of 5.5 minutes per game.

Eight of those minutes came in the fourth quarter, in which Springer was tasked with defending Hawks guard Dejounte Murray. Typically, an end-of-the-bench guard isn't seeing the court in the final 12 minutes of the game, but since the C's already clinched the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, Mazzulla has been using that cushion as an opportunity to test his guys.

Celtics' experiments ahead of NBA playoffs

Atlanta Hawks guard Dejounte Murray (5) shoots over Boston Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis (8) during the second half at State Farm Arena.
Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

A similar experiment occurred on Thursday night during Boston's 123-122 overtime loss to Atlanta. Murray was scorching the Celtics and taking advantage of mismatches, like when the much bigger Kristaps Porzingis was on him. However, this bizarre pairing wasn't accidental, per Celtics insider Marc D'Amico.

ā€œThose were good reps for us. We went to that on purpose,ā€ Mazzulla said when asked why Porzingis was guarding Murray. ā€œWe have an opportunity to practice stuff that we're going to need to get to. And we haven't done a lot of 15, 1-through-5 switching, with KP on the floor. So I thought that was a good opportunity for us to just work on that and get reps on that. And just get it on film.ā€

The 7-foot-2 center had a hard time staying with Murray, who's a shifty guard who can easily create his own shot. Yet, that didn't deter Mazzulla's strategy, as Porzingis was rarely switched off the Hawks' primary option, even in a one-score game.

With less than a minute to go in regulation, Porzingis' length helped force a bad shot from Murray, however, De'Andre Hunter was there to grab the offensive board and feed the sharp-shooting Bogdan Bogdanovic for a game-tying triple.

Late in overtime, Mazzulla decided to move away from this experimental tactic. For instance, on Atlanta's final possession of the game, Celtics guard Jrue Holiday stayed on Murray. This is the matchup Boston wanted, as Holiday has made the NBA All-Defensive First Team three times and is considered one of the league's best on-ball defenders. Unfortunately for the C's, nothing was slowing down Murray.

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Murray finished with a career-high 44 points on an insane 44 shot attempts. Since star point guard Trae Young is out for the Hawks, Murray was given the green light against Bostonā€”and he made the most of it. His 44 shots and 19 attempts from deep were the most in NBA history since the late Kobe Bryant, via NBC Sports Boston statistician Dick Lipe. It's worth noting that Bryant's frenzy of field goals was in 2016 during the last game of his basketball career.

The Celtics now sit at 57-16 overall, while the Hawks are 34-39 and still in 10th place. Thursday was the last regular season showdown between the Celtics and Hawks, but they could meet again in the postseason due to NBA Play-In seeding.

Regardless of who the C's face in the first round, Mazzulla will continue to search for teaching moments ahead of the 2024 NBA Playoffs.