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Key Moment
Friday night at TD Garden felt a lot like Wednesday night at TD Garden. That’s good news for the Celtics.
Two days after crushing the Knicks 103-73 thanks to a dominant second half, Boston returned to the court Friday night and did the same to the visiting Hawks. The two teams were locked in a tight battle well into the third quarter before the C’s strung together a quick 6-0 run that gave them complete control of the game.
Yet again, Terry Rozier was at the center of the spurt and Boston’s dominance. Rozier, who started his second consecutive game in place of an injured Kyrie Irving, looked like a starter yet again after logging a triple-double Wednesday night. He got the run going with a 3-pointer off of a dish from Aron Baynes, doubling Boston’s lead from three points to six with 6:25 left in the third quarter.
Baynes scored the next three points of the game off of a layup in traffic under the basket. He caught a pass from Jayson Tatum and immediately went up for the bucket as he drew a foul from Marco Belinelli. Baynes connected on the free throw to bump the lead up to nine.
There was no debating which team would come out on top after that run. Boston, thanks to a 14-point quarter from Rozier and a 41-point quarter overall, pulled ahead by 19 points heading into the fourth quarter. Its lead never dropped to below double-digits until the Hawks managed to score six straight during the final two minutes of the game.
Rozier went on to tally a career-high 31 points on the night, making this Wednesday night feel a whole lot like Friday night as the Celtics rode his wave through a dominant second half.
Key Player
It had been nearly three months since Jayson Tatum had scored more than 20 points in a game, but that streak came to a screeching halt Friday night at TD Garden.
Tatum recorded a new career high in the scoring column against the Atlanta Hawks, as he tallied 27 points during 32 minutes of action. His previous career high was 22 points, and the last time he scored more than 20 points was on Nov. 6.
Tatum connected on 11 of his career-high 19 field goal attempts, and, believe it or not, the man who has become known for his 3-point marksmanship did not make a single 3-pointer in the game (he attempted only one).
Want to know another career high that Tatum logged Friday night? He grabbed four steals, matching his career high that he had previously tallied twice. Tatum also contributed four rebounds and three assists and did not commit a single turnover during his 31-plus minutes of action.
Box Score Nuggets
- Aron Baynes dished out a career-high five assists.
- Terry Rozier (31 points) and Jayson Tatum (27 points) each recorded career highs in the scoring column.
- Boston's 41 points during the third quarter were a season high for any quarter.
- The C's limited Atlanta to just 42.5 percent shooting.
- The two teams combined to commit only 23 turnovers (11 by Boston, 12 by Atlanta).
- Dennis Schroder scored a team-high 25 points for Atlanta.
- Al Horford tallied a game-high seven assists.
- Boston outscored Atlanta by 31 points while Rozier was on the floor, by 27 points while Tatum was on the floor, and by 26 points while Baynes was on the floor.
- Rozier scored 31 points, and the Celtics outscored the Hawks by 31 points while he was in the game.
- Daniel Theis blocked two shots.
- Marco Belinelli's 15 points were one more than Boston's entire bench scored.
- the Celtics shot a combined 18-for-20 (90 percent) from the free-throw line.
Quote of the Night
Brad Stevens on Marcus Morris, who walked past his postgame press conference and chanted "E-A-G-L-E-S!"