Celtics Use Hot Shooting To Bury Hawks
The Hawks suffered a narrow defeat in Boston for the second time this season on Friday night, this time by a 112-107 margin. Four days after losing to the Celtics in Atlanta, the Hawks sought to salvage a game from the season series, but without several key players, they fell just short despite a valiant fourth-quarter run. Atlanta had just nine healthy bodies and used an eight-man rotation in which no one played fewer than 20 minutes. The Celtics, meanwhile, were missing three starters, though they had more depth to help compensate for those absences.
With their costars sidelined, both Jayson Tatum and John Collins shouldered heavier responsibilities than usual for their respective teams. Tatum began the game with 11 first-quarter points and finished with 32 to go with six assists. He drilled seven of his 12 3-point attempts and hit multiple timely shots late in the game to keep the Hawks at bay. Enes Kanter and Marcus Smart were similarly important presences for the Celtics. Kanter created six extra chances for Boston with his work on the boards while Smart spearheaded the defense and stabilized the offense as Kemba Walker worked his way back up to speed after a three-game absence. Rookie guard Romeo Langford gave his team an important lift with 16 points and five rebounds in a career-high 29 minutes. Smart and Langford teamed up for two key baskets late in the game to clinch the win.
As a team, Boston shot 43 percent on 3-pointers, which ultimately made the difference in the game. The Celtics posted a 115.5 offensive rating compared to Atlanta’s 109.2 mark, and the Hawks shot just 13-of-39 from long distance. Boston began the game on a 21-7 run and, in a flashback to Monday’s game, outscored the Hawks 33-18 in the third quarter to create the necessary separation to sustain a run in the final period.
Still, the Hawks put themselves in position to win despite those spells of lethargy. They closed a 14-point deficit to as little as three, and had multiple opportunities in the final minutes to win outright. “I was proud of our guys tonight,” Lloyd Pierce said. “When we perform and compete the way we did after the first five minutes, it’s a pretty fun group. I thought our guys were very resilient.”
Without Trae Young to steer the offense, Atlanta turned to Collins, who anchored the team from the post and around the rim. The Hawks opened the game with a called post-up for Collins, and he went at Tatum and Smart multiple times on the block in the first quarter. Even as the offense began to flow through other channels, Collins was a central component, for all 38 minutes he spent on the floor. He finished with 30 points and 10 rebounds on 10-of-19 shooting, and has now played 13 consecutive games with at least 17 points on over 50 percent shooting.
Kevin Huerter played a game-high 43 high-stress minutes, and had to work hard for 25 points and six assists as he navigated screens and handoffs with Smart draped all over him. But Huerter was hardly heard from over the final few minutes, and it begs wondering whether fatigue prevented him from prying himself away from Smart’s reach.
On a night with so much of the rotation unavailable, Atlanta needed a lift from the bench players it did have, and those men came through. Vince Carter played a strong all-around game with 10 points, nine rebounds, four assists, and quality defense while Treveon Graham delivered 10 points off the bench – the most he’s scored as a Hawk. Brandon Goodwin provided a critical spark with a career-high 21 points to go with four assists, and had an open 3-pointer to tie the game in the final seconds that caromed off the back rim. The Hawks have been competitive in four of the six games Young has missed this season, and Goodwin is a major reason why. His three best games of the season have all come with Young out, and he earned the right to close Friday’s game in place of Jeff Teague.
The Hawks created an early advantage at the foul line and finished the game 24-of-26 at the stripe. Despite struggling to draw contact early, the Celtics eventually made 22 of their 27 free throws.
This week offered two entertaining, though ultimately uninformative, games between two thoroughly banged-up teams. The Hawks’ roster is currently in a state of transition, and we don’t yet know how long it could be until Pierce has a full, healthy rotation at his disposal. Until then, he’ll live with the effort his players showed on Friday, even if they came up just short.
“Going into the fourth quarter down 14 and to get back into it the way we did was impressive,” he said. “To be as shorthanded as we were was impressive, and I commend our guys for just competing.”
