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Key Moment
Wednesday just wasn’t the Boston Celtics’ night.
It was, to the contrary, a heck of a night for the Atlanta Hawks.
Atlanta could do no wrong against the Celtics, and that trend began from the opening jump. The Hawks shot a blistering 66.7 percent from the field and 72.7 percent from 3-point range during the first quarter as they opened up a 13-point lead. Boston never threatened to forge a comeback from that point on in a rare end-to-end win by Atlanta.
Trae Young and Danilo Gallinari were the names of the game for the Hawks both during the first quarter and throughout the rest of the night. Young scored 17 points during the first quarter alone on 7-for-11 shooting, and he finished with 33 during the game. Gallinari, meanwhile, came off the bench to drill two 3-pointers during the opening frame, which set the tone for his 38-point night which included an audacious 10-for-12 shooting performance from long distance.
Atlanta went on to pull ahead by as many as 27 points as the rest of the contest unfolded. The Celtics never dropped their deficit to fewer than 13 following the opening frame.
Key Player
One bright spot for the Celtics Wednesday night was the play – and particularly, the shooting – of Aaron Nesmith.
The rookie wing continued his consistent shooting by draining five of his seven field goal attempts and three of his four 3-pointers against Atlanta. He totaled 13 points during the contest while logging only 14-plus minutes of action.
Nesmith also grabbed three rebounds and a steal and was one of the youngsters who showed some life for Boston during the fourth quarter. He, Tremont Waters, Carsen Edwards, Javonte Green and Tacko Fall all checked into the game together at the 7:45 mark and went on to outscore the Hawks 29-18 over the remainder of the contest. Nesmith finished as a plus-four in the plus/minus category.
Box Score Nuggets
- Seven Celtics scored between 11 and 17 points, led by 17 from Jaylen Brown.
- Danilo Gallinari shot 10-for-12 from long distance en route to a game-high 38 points.
- Gallinari's 10 triples were two more than Boston's entire team made.
- Tremont Waters came off of Boston's bench and scored 11 points on a perfect 4-for-4 shooting night to go along with five assists, all in only seven-plus minutes of action.
- Tristan Thompson logged a clean double-double of 13 points and a game-high 13 rebounds.
- Trae Young totaled 33 points and a game-high seven assists.
- Atlanta made almost three-times as many triples as Boston, finishing with a 23-8 edge.
- Boston trailed nearly all night yet committed only six total turnovers.
- John Collins logged a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
Quote of the Night
Brad Stevens on his team's future