With 34 points from Jayson Tatum, the Celtics defeated the Hawks 113-103 on Sunday night at TD Garden. Despite missing two players due to injuries—Jue Holiday (ankle) and Kristaps Porzingis (calf)—the hosts were able to shut down the potent Hawks attack and held them to just 40.9 percent shooting from the floor.With a 7-0 record at TD Garden, Jaylen Brown finished with 21 points and 7 rebounds, while Jayson Tatum led the way for Boston with 34 points and 9 rebounds. In the loss, Trae Young scored a team-high 33 points for the Hawks, while Derrick White added a double-double with 15 points and 11 assists.
Despite shooting poorly from the field (44 percent) and from 3-point range (27 percent) in the victory, the Celtics prevailed mostly because to their superior rebounding, going 58-43 on the glass, which resulted in 17 second chance points. With the win, Boston raised their record to an NBA-best 13-4. They will now play their final in-season tournament game for pool play on Tuesday night against the Bulls.
These are four things to remember from Sunday night’s Celtics victory.
Unexpected start for Dalano Banton: With Boston without two starters, Joe Mazzulla decided to put the seldom-used Banton in the starting lineup against the Hawks. With a second unit that has been playing well lately, the move helped maintain some bench continuity. Banton’s 6-foot-9 size also gave the starting five more defensive versatility. In the first half, the 24-year-old didn’t have much of an impact, butmade two layups early in the second half and finished with eight points to help the hosts win the game easily. More significantly, Brown and Tatum were able to contribute more to the scoring load alongside the starters because Boston’s bench rotation held firm.
Neemias Queta gives Boston’s offensive glass a big night: Due to a foot ailment, the two-way center hasn’t received many opportunities this season despite having a solid preseason performance. On Sunday night, with Kristaps Porzingis out and Boston having trouble on the offensive glass, that all changed. Joe Mazzulla looked to the powerful athlete forsome vigor, and in his first ten minutes of play, he pulled down double-digit rebounds, six of which came from the offensive board. His extra effort on the glass gave the Celtics more opportunities, and they took advantage of them, scoring 17 second chance points to offset a poor shooting performance from beyond the arc. Queta performed admirably in a frontcourt lacking in players during a season where Mazzulla has not received much from his deep bench players.
Nobody could keep up with Trae Young for the Celtics. This has been an issue for a number of years, but for the most of the game, Young was able to score six three-pointers while dominating from the outside with Boston’s big men in drop coverage. Joe Mazzulla ultimately decided against giving up and to switch with his big men later in the second half.unhindered glances passing across displays. Although Young’s supporting cast, which included Bogdan Bogdanovic, had a difficult shooting night, Boston evidently benefited from Young’s cooling off enough for the Celtics to withstand a late push from Atlanta.
The All-Stars from the Celtics are dominating the Hawks defense: The Boston Celtics All-Stars had their opportunity to lead their team’s offense once more with little support from outside shooters as their big-name acquisitions were sitting on the bench. For the most part of the evening, the two were up to the challenge against a poor Hawks defense, with Tatum putting on a feast for Hawks players in isolated situations.to finish with 34 points, a game-high. Despite committing six turnovers, he offset his mistakes by attacking well against less skilled opponents and used Derrick White in a brilliant two-man game. Against the Hawks defense, Brown also performed admirably inside the arc, and for the majority of the game, the extra attention both All-Stars received created easy opportunities for the rest of the Celtics offense.
Leave a Reply