The Celtics dropped their second straight game to the Hawks on Thursday night 123-122 in an overtime thriller at State Farm Arena. Dejounte Murray hit the game-winning jumper for the hosts with 0.1 seconds remaining in overtime, giving the veteran guard a career-high 44 points in the victory. The clutch basket capped a back-and-forth affair that featured a surprising amount of intensity between the two squads for a low stakes regular season game.

Murray scored all 11 of the Hawks points in overtime but was inefficient for much of the night, going 18-of-44 from the field but saving his best work in overtime (5-of-8 shooting from the field including the game-winner).

Beyond Murray’s shooting, Atlanta largely won the game with their effort on the glass, crushing Boston with 17 offensive rebounds on their way to 28 second chance points.

Jayson Tatum led five Celtics in double figures with 31 points and 13 rebounds. Derrick White chipped in with 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting while Jrue Holiday scored 13 point in his return from a shoulder injury. Boston held a 27-2 edge in fast break points but couldn’t make up for their deficit on the glass.

With the loss, Boston falls to 2-2 on their road trip with a tough contest looming in New Orleans on Saturday night. The Hawks have now won four straight games overall.

Here are four takeaways from the Celtics’ loss on Thursday night:

Jrue Holiday looks sharp in return: The veteran guard wore a black sleeve on his right arm after missing the past five games with a shoulder strain. Holiday looked a little rusty to start, missing his first three shot attempts but he quickly found his rhythm afterward, making four of his next six, including three from beyond the arc. Most importantly, Holiday looked like he was having no pain issues with his shot form or defensive stance, a crucial indicator for any kind of shoulder injury. Holiday played his usual slate of minutes so there should be a decent window here for Boston’s regulars to get some work in together before the end of the regular season. Holiday finished with 13 points in 36 minutes.

A lack of effort starting to show on the defensive glass: The Hawks are one of the better offenses in the NBA but the Celtics got outworked in this one. Atlanta grabbed offensive rebounds on 34 percent of their misses, which led to 28 second chance points including several pivotal points during crunch time. The Celtics have held their own well on the defensive glass all year long but there has been some slippage in recent weeks as the defense has fallen off. Some of those bad habits may be from a lack of motivation in the standings but Atlanta doesn’t have the size to beat up Boston on the glass like this. A soft effort on the boards in this one put Boston in a bind.

A mixed bag in crunch time: There were positive steps forward in this one including Jaylen Brown hitting a potential game-winner off a set play with six seconds remaining in overtime. However, Boston squandered another key chance to win the contest at the end of regulation when Tatum was forced into a desperation 3 off an inbounds with six seconds left. Joe Mazzulla had a timeout left at this juncture and left it in his pocket and it’s safe to say the Hawks predicted the set the team ended up running. Overall, these were some valuable crunch time reps and steps in the right direction with involving Porzingis/Brown in some plays but it is clear the team needs to mix up their play calls more.

A potential first round series looming? It’s a long shot at this juncture with the Hawks needing to win two play-in tournament games to secure the No. 8 seed. However, this team is finding a little bit of an identity right now with Trae Young sidelined. Murray has become the lead dog with Bogdan Bogdanovic as a talented sidekick. More importantly, they are playing a lot more defense these days, which has led to four straight wins overall including a pair over Boston. They are one game away from catching the Bulls in the standings so it would not be a huge surprise to see them playing for a chance to meet Boston for the second straight year in the first round next month.