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C’s Passing Party Leads to Offensive Masterpiece in Atlanta

The Boston Celtics tipped off their six-game road trip Saturday night with an offensive masterpiece in every sense of the word.

Taking on the host Atlanta Hawks, Boston made 52 field goals at a 54.7 percent clip, hit 20 3-pointers at a 47.6 percent clip, and dished out 35 assists while committing only eight turnovers, leading to a 134-125 win at State Farm Arena.

It marked just the seventh game in franchise history that the Celtics dished out at least 35 assists while committing fewer than nine turnovers. Amazingly, three of those efforts have come in the past year.

In the process, the C’s improved to 25-1 in games this year when making at least 44 field goals, 14-1 when making at least 20 3-pointers, 13-1 when handing out at least 30 assists, 7-0 when committing fewer than 10 turnovers, and 10-0 when scoring at least 130 points.

“Good way to start a road trip,” Jayson Tatum, who logged 34 points, 15 rebounds, and six assists, said in his postgame walk-off interview with NBC Sports Boston. “First is one out of the way. Everybody contributed, and I’m just glad we figured out a way to win.”

The key words from that statement – and the story of the game – were that “everybody contributed.” The widespread distribution of assists was remarkable, as was the collective team effort in taking care of the ball.

Boston’s 35 assists represented its second-highest total of the season, yet no individual handed out more than seven helpers.

Jaylen Brown and Derrick White led the way with seven assists apiece, Marcus Smart and Tatum had six apiece, Malcolm Brogdon had five, Al Horford had three, and Blake Griffin had one.

In contrast, Hawks point guard Trae Young handed out a game-high 13 dimes – nearly double that of Boston’s team leader – yet Atlanta only tallied 24 team assists on the night.

Boston’s starting five alone dished out 29 assists while committing just four turnovers. Horford and White didn’t cough up the ball at all, while Brown and Tatum had just one turnover apiece.

Coming out with such a collective focus ins the first game of a long road trip is a good omen, especially after coming off a rough stretch of losses. The C’s will have a great chance to keep their offense rolling as they head to Houston Monday night to face a Rockets team that ranks 29th in the league in defensive rating.

JT's Double-Double Ranks Among Best in C’s History

Although the theme of Saturday night’s game was teamwork, Jayson Tatum’s individual effort still deserves some praise. The Celtics wing delivered 34 points, 15 rebounds, and six assists, which is the second time this season he’s hit those marks in a game (34 points, 19 rebounds, six assists vs. Golden State on Jan. 19).

Tatum is just the fourth Celtics player to have multiple such games in his career, let alone over a two-month span, joining Larry Bird, Dave Cowens, and John Havlicek. The only other players in franchise history to log a single game of those marks were Robert Parish and Bill Russell.

It was the 16th game of the season in which Tatum logged at least 30 points and 10 rebounds. The only Celtics who have recorded more such games a season are Larry Bird (19, twice), and John Havlicek (18).

It was also Tatum’s league-leading 50th game with at least 25 points.