Tip-off: Thursday, 8:00 p.m. ET
Line: Boston -1.5, Total: 209

The Celtics will need to recover quickly after falling on their faces against the Cavs.

The Boston Celtics received a rude awakening on Monday night, getting destroyed 114-91 at home by the Cavaliers (CLE +4) in a game that amounted to a battle for the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Eastern Conference Playoffs. The loss dropped Boston to 50-28 on the year (38-38-2 ATS), which puts them a game back of Cleveland, 2.5 games up on the Raptors and three games up on the Wizards. They’ll have no time to feel sorry for themselves, though, as they will travel to take on another prospective playoff team in the East when they take on the Hawks Thursday night. Atlanta has lost two straight games and nine of their last 11, most recently falling to the worst team in the NBA in a 91-82 loss at Brooklyn on Sunday (BKN +3). They’re currently sitting at sixth in a tight race in the bottom half of the Eastern Conference playoff standings at 39-38 (35-42 ATS), but holding a solid 1.5-game edge over the Bulls, Heat and Pacers. And unlike the Celtics, they’ll be plenty rested on Thursday. Since 1996, teams allowing at least 103 PPG on the season coming off a game in which they scored 85 points or fewer (ATL) are 23-57 ATS when the line is between +3 and -3. Over the last five seasons, games involving a team that has gone Under the total by at least 30 total points in their last five games with winning percentages between .510 and .600 (ATL) are 110-63 Under against totals of 200 or greater. For the Hawks, SG Tim Hardaway is considered probable for Thursday night while SG Thabo Sefolosha is considered doubtful to play.

Not much for the Celtics could be considered a bright spot in their loss to Cleveland, but PG Isaiah Thomas (29.1 PPG, 5.9 APG) did score 26 points on 19 shots and dish out six assists. It was the seventh time in his last eight games that he has scored at least 25, with the lone exception being a blowout win over the Knicks in which he played 24 minutes. Unfortunately, the Celtics appear to have little else in the way of offense as of late. In their last five games, their offensive rating with him on the court is 118.4. Without him: 80.6. (It’s an incredibly small sample size for the Celtics, obviously, but for some context, the Sixers are last in the league with a rating of 100.7 for the season.) Thursday’s game against the Hawks will pit C Al Horford (14.1 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 5.0 APG, 1.3 BPG) against his former team, as he left Atlanta for Boston as a free agent this past offseason. In two games against them this year, he is averaging 8.0 PPG, 6.0 RPG and 5.5 APG. One problem recently for the Celtics has been the disappearance of PG Marcus Smart (10.5 PPG, 3.9 RPG, 4.5 APG, 1.6 SPG), as he is shooting only 23.7% from the field in his last six games (35.8% for the season). SG Avery Bradley (16.4 PPG, 6.2 RPG, 1.3 SPG) disappointed against the Cavs with four points on 1-of-8 shooting and a team-worse +/- of -22. C Kelly Olynyk (9.0 PPG, 4.7 RPG) scored 12 points off the bench.

Before Sunday’s game, star Atlanta PF Paul Millsap (18.0 PPG, 7.7 RPG, 3.7 APG, 1.3 SPG) had missed eight straight contests with a left knee injury. Considering how often they were losing without him, they have to be relieved that he’s back in the lineup. He showed some rust, though, scoring 14 points on 4-of-14 shooting and pulling down four rebounds in 26 minutes. Without him, PG Dennis Schroder (18.1 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 6.3 APG, 1.0 SPG)—who is actually the team’s leading scorer on the season—had taken on an even larger scoring role. He’s averaging 23.0 PPG, 5.0 RPG and 7.2 APG in his last six games, and has taken a mind-blowing 21.8 shots per game in that stretch. Clearly, the team does not thrive when Schroder has to play that large of a part in the offense. C Dwight Howard (13.4 PPG, 12.9 RPG, 1.3 BPG), who has generally had a good year for his hometown team, has had some strong performances as of late. He had 22 points and 20 rebounds against the 76ers in one of the team’s few recent wins, and he had four blocks in a win against the Suns the day before that. He has reached double-digit rebounds in 19 straight games that he’s played in. Rookie SF Taurean Prince (5.3 PPG, 2.5 APG) has taken on an important role in recent weeks, and he started and played 36 minutes against the Nets, scoring 13 points. Hardaway (14.2 PPG) had 14.