Early Takeaways from Celtics' 2023 NBA Playoff Performance

The Boston Celtics have tussled four times with the Atlanta Hawks to open the 2022-23 NBA playoffs.

Three of them were Shamrocks victories—all by eight points or more.

While Boston didn't get to go into the broom closet for a sweep, there hasn't been much to complain about for the Celtics so far.

However, there have been a few valuable lessons learned along the way.

There is a five-seed difference between the second-seeded Celtics and the seventh-seeded Hawks—and it shows.

Credit Atlanta for punching above its weight class in Game 3, but the team simply doesn't reside on the same tier as Boston.

Understanding that—and accepting it as fact—is key to assessing the significance of this series. The Celtics shouldn't have trouble escaping this round, and so far, it appears they won't.

Being significantly better than the Hawks only really matters for this round, though. In other words, Boston will need to find another gear (or more) to keep this successful run going well past the opening round.

On paper, the Celtics have one of the league's top tandems in star wings Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Throw a whole heap of high-level role players around them, and you have the formula that Boston followed to last year's Finals.

Still, life would be easier if the Celtics spawned another star to build basketball's next Big Three. So far, Derrick White is acing his audition for that role.

Look, maybe it's a stretch to imagine a 28-year-old support piece can suddenly step into the spotlight, but he certainly has handled the ascension to this point. His jack-of-all-trades game is rolling to the point he may have mastered several aspects of it so far. His point-of-attack defense has been brilliant, he's handled defensive switches when needed, and he has shifted his offense into overdrive.

Will his offensive production hold up against stingier defenses than the Hawks have? Great question—and one that can't possibly be answered in this round. Still, it's hard not to be bullish about the leap he's making.

Four games into the first round, White is up to 19.8 points on 58/52/88.9 shooting while tossing 3.8 assists against just 1.8 turnovers.

Like all teams, the Celtics figured to tighten their rotation once the playoffs tipped. Coach Joe Mazzulla has done exactly that with just eight players seeing action in every game so far.

That part of the process isn't surprising, but the specific squeeze that Mazzulla picked sure is.

When selecting a third bench player beyond Malcolm Brogdon and Robert Williams III, the Celtics coach hasn't sided with versatile two-way forward Grant Williams. Instead, he gave the gig to three-point specialist Sam Hauser.

It remains to be seen how long Mazzulla will stick with this selection, especially since Williams, a superior defender, has more points (14 to 6) and more threes (4 to 2) in his 19 minutes than Hauser has had in his 45.

It's possible this is just matchup-dependent, and the roles will flip next round. It's also possible they could change as soon as Game 5.

For now, though, the sight of Hauser on the floor and Williams stuck on the sideline paints an interesting picture regarding Boston's plans for the latter's upcoming venture into restricted free agency.