Key Moment
All night long, it felt like the Celtics needed just one burst to pull away from the visiting Hawks for good. Turns out, that feeling was spot-on.
Neither team led by double-digits until early in the fourth quarter when Boston scored seven straight points over just 63 seconds of action. That spurt pushed the team ahead by 13 points and it cruised to a win from there.
The run was both initiated and closed by Jayson Tatum. He scored the first two points on a driving layup after he’d previously missed a 3-pointer just nine seconds before. He thought he’d been fouled on the 3-point attempt and, after getting the ball back following an offensive rebound from the C’s, took his frustration out on the Hawks by driving to the rack like a bull. He wasn’t going to be denied. That much is a fact.
Just 24 seconds later, after Boston forced a deep miss from Trae Young, Derrick White canned a 3-pointer from the right corner to give the C’s the first double-digit lead of the night, at 109-98. This 3-pointer came off a pass from Al Horford, who had caught the ball on the right wing before throwing a pump fake and then wrapping a bounce pass around to White for the 3.
Tatum closed out the run with yet another driving layup, this one which was dropped in off the glass with his left hand. Boston’s superstar wing got a switch onto Onyeka Okongwu on the perimeter, and Okongwu stood no chance in the matchup. Tatum dribbled and danced before blowing past Okongwu for a beautiful finish off the glass to make it a 13-point game.
That’s all the breathing room Boston needed, as the Hawks just didn’t have enough firepower to keep up with the C’s from there. Boston’s victory was never in peril before it finished out a 125-117 win.
Key Player
Kristaps Porzingis was snubbed from the Eastern Conference All-Star team, and he appears to have taken that personally.
During his first game since the snub, Porzingis dropped a game-high 31 points against the Atlanta Hawks. The beauty of it the performance is that he put it up against one of the players who was chosen over him as an All-Star: Trae Young.
To compare the two players’ nights, Porzingis notched 31 points on 19 shots, while Young scored just 20 on 25 shots. So Porzingis scored 11 more points, on six fewer shots. That’s pretty good.
Boston’s big man was also a force around the rim at the defensive end of the court. He blocked a pair of shots and altered even more, all while grabbing three boards. He rounded out his box score with an assist during his 31-plus minutes of action.
Was that a statement from Porzingis following his snub from All-Star weekend? It sure felt like it.
Box Score Nuggets
- The teams scored nearly identical totals from inside the paint: 58 points for Boston and 56 points for Atlanta.
- Kristaps Porzingis led the game with 31 points on only 19 shots.
- Atlanta committed only nine turnovers.
- Saddiq Bey led Atlanta with 25 points.
- The contest featured 12 lead changes and 10 ties.
- Sam Hauser scored 10 points off the bench and was a plus-13 in nearly 25 minutes of action.
- Boston shot 52.7 percent from the field, while Atlanta shot just 42.2 percent.
- Derrick White stuffed the stat sheet with 21 points, seven assists, six rebounds, a steal and a blocked shot.
- Atlanta made seven more free throws (18) than Boston attempted (11).
- Al Horford threatened for a double-double with 14 points, eight rebounds and a team-best eight assists. He also blocked a game-high four shots.
- The Hawks outscored Boston in second-chance points (18-8) and in fast break points (15-6).
- Atlanta's players tallied the game's only two double-doubles: Trae Young totaled 20 points and 10 assists, and Onyeka Okongwu totaled 19 points and 10 rebounds.
- Boston's starters totaled 29 assists, and the team totaled 33 assists overall.
Quote of the Night
"Al's amazing. That's all you can really say about Al. He does so many things for us on the court, off the court, that just help us win games. He's amazing."
– Derrick White on Al Horford