Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, sit back down in the dust, cry a little, pick yourself up again, accept that you’re dusty, and get back to work.

What originally looked like a challenging but competitive series with Atlanta has turned into a nightmare threatening to undo much of the good of this seasons, and possibly derail some plans for how to build into the future. That’s life (or at least sport); there’s nothing to do but go forward.

How do they move forward? Well, that’s less clear. The team is where it is, heading home down 0-2, bloody, battered, and bruised. Jae Crowder puts his health at 75-80% and looks it. Isaiah Thomas may be roughly the same. Remove Avery Bradley and Kelly Olynyk from the equation and Boston, desperate for shooting in the best of times, finds itself with one healthy player on even the fringes of the rotation, Jonas Jerebko, who can reliable throw the ball in the hole from more than eight feet away. The defensive axis of Bradley, Crowder, Marcus Smart, and Amir Johnson is down to one healthy player with Smart’s new injury. Who would have thought that the healthiest defensive threat on the Celtics would be Amir Johnson?!

Meanwhile Atlanta has stepped up their already dominant defense. Realizing that the current Celtics are not a threat to hit even open shots, the Hawks are ignoring multiple players and using their extra men to wall of the paint and/or pressure the ball. What’s the risk for them? The defense gets caught in rotation, scrambling to close out on a shooter who can’t, or won’t, shoot?

That’s not much of a risk at all and they know it. The Celtics have had one brief hot stretch in Game 1 followed by about 15 minutes of competent scoring that ended with Avery Bradley going down for what looks like the series. Game 2 was basically an embarrassment from the opening tip; the only saving grace being that for the final three quarters the shell-shocked Celtics pulled their act together well enough to keep pace with the slackening Hawks.

Felling any better? No? I guess not every cry is cathartic. Regardless, it’s time to get up again…

Not everything has been a disaster. The Celtics defense has been fine outside the first six minutes of Game 2 and even then, sometimes teams just make their shots for a stretch. Atlanta has scored only 90.5 PPG despite shooting far more free throws than they normally do. As they go on the road for the first time that free throw rate will hopefully drop.

The Celtics have also found some minimal success when they can put at least the threat of shooting on the floor. Jonas Jerebko, admittedly mostly against backups, has a positive plus-minus despite being 4-12 shooting in his 37 minutes. RJ Hunter’s brief non-garbage time stretch wasn’t a total disaster for the team despite the rough first three seconds.

And finally, the games have been on the road. There’s an old adage in sports that a series doesn’t start until a team wins on the road. This is a stupid adage, but it might provide some comfort in these dark times. In reality, home court advantage has been slipping for years but still remains a relatively strong force in the playoffs.

The Celtics will need every bit of help they can get entering what will likely be an edgy TD Garden. The Celtics fans have really taken to this team but are clearly afraid of being burnt for the second straight year. If the team gets off to a strong start in Game 3 they’ll potentially turn that nervous energy into a positive outpouring that may drive the team on. Another rough start and things could continue to go south.

Again, what’s next? In short, changes. I don’t know if it’s in Brad Stevens’s DNA to do it (one of his few weaknesses seems to be that he’s slow to implement changes that I think he knows are necessary) but it’s past time.

Jared Sullinger has been a steady force for the Celtics all year, and it’s no fun doing this to a player in what could be his last games with a franchise, but Atlanta is a brutal matchup for him and he must move to the bench. Maybe he can make hay against Mikes Muscala and Scott off the bench. Marcus Smart, despite his injury and wretched shooting, should hold down the starting guard spot for his potential to get steals and offensive rebounds. If Bradley were healthy I would advocate for starting in full-on small-ball mode to try to juice the crowd and knock Atlanta back but without him I think Jerebko needs to be elevated into the starting five. Adding Evan Turner to the starters just further diminishes the spacing and leaves no reliable ball handler on the bench.

With Marcus handling the ball, Amir the primary screener, and IT, Jae, and Jonas spacing the floor there’s at least a hope to open cracks in the Atlanta defense. The Celtics can’t simply throw themselves at Millsap and Horford though, even if they are now making longer rotations to contest. They need to use penetration to open passing opportunities and to not get discouraged if the results don’t match the process. Trust that the shots will eventually fall and that the Hawks blocking everything without ever being called for a foul is more than likely a fluke.

The second unit should no longer be thing for this series. You can’t have a bench mob with this range of injuries. Unless they physically can’t do it, Isaiah and Jae need to play 40 minutes and when one isn’t on the court RJ Hunter should be given another stretch. If Kelly Olynyk can give anything, the big man rotation beyond the starters should consist of him and Sullinger, probably not together, for short minutes. A stretch where either Jerebko or Olynyk are the only big on the floor is worth trying again.

The identity of this team has been that they don’t quit on even the most lost of lost causes. The playoffs are hard and Atlanta is healthy and good. The Celtics are banged up, on the brink, and in a rut, but they’re coming home. The Celtics need to get their first playoff win under Brad Stevens and it needs to come now. There’s nothing left to do but get back to work.