Regular Season

Marc D'Amico

Say what you want about Jayson Tatum’s series against the Atlanta Hawks, but what you can’t say is that he didn’t come up clutch during the biggest moment of the series.

Tatum made the two biggest shots of Game 6 to initiate the process of ending Atlanta’s season. Those two shots were made within 37 seconds of one another, and they provided Boston with a 121-113 lead with 2:07 remaining in the contest.

The Hawks lost their ability to fly from there, and never recovered before heading into their offseason.

Tatum’s first clutch bucket arrived after he got the switch onto Atlanta’s John Collins and told his teammates to get the heck out of the way. Tatum sized Collins up with three dribbles and then moved into a step-back jumper from beyond the arc that rattled through the rim with 2:43 left on the clock.

His next shot was put home from 25 feet closer to the basket, and boy, was it a loud one.

Al Horford fired up a 3-pointer from the right corner with 2:13 left in the game that set the play up for Tatum. It was the exact same shot Horford had connected on just over a minute earlier, but this time he missed off the front of the iron. Fortunately for Boston, Tatum read it the whole way. Once Horford went into his shooting motion, Tatum darted to the basket from just inside half court once. Tatum went untouched into the paint and timed his jump perfectly to slam home the rebound before screaming and flexing as he ran back to the other end of the court.

If you know basketball, you knew this game was over at that very moment. That slam pumped life into the Celtics, life that helped them swarm Atlanta with defense while creating quality looks on offense the rest of the way. Boston held Atlanta without a field goal for the final 88 seconds of the game while completing a 128-120 win to seal the series.

Suffice to say that Jayson Tatum wasn’t interested in hosting the Hawks at TD Garden again this season. He instead chose to send them to Cancun.

Tatum saved his best performance of the series for last by logging a monster double-double Thursday night that consisted of 30 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. We repeat: Tatum, a wing, led the game in rebounds with 14, marking his highest total since grabbing 15 back on March 11.

One of Tatum’s rebounds was the most important board of the game and is highlighted in our Key Moment section. He grabbed the rebound off of Al Horford’s late, missed 3-pointer and stuffed it home all in one motion to surge the Celtics ahead by eight points heading into the final two minutes.

It must also be noted that Tatum led the team in assists with seven, all while not committing a single turnover. He also logged two blocked shots and a steal, all while making 11 of his 20 shots (55 percent).

This was far and away Tatum’s top performance of the series, and one that should give him momentum heading into the next round against the Philadelphia 76ers.

- Jaylen Brown (32 points) and Jayson Tatum (30 points) each broke the 30-point barrier.

- Marcus Smart shot 50 percent from the field en route to 22 points. He also totaled four rebounds, four assists and a steal.

- Trae Young required 28 shots to score 30 points.

- Boston outscored Atlanta 18-4 in fast break points.

- Malcolm Brogdon led all reserves with 17 points.

- Dejounte Murray (14 points, 11 assists) and Trae Young (30 points, 10 assists) each notched double-doubles for Atlanta.

- In addition to Tatum, Al Horford (12 rebounds, 10 points) also notched a double-double.

- Six of the nine Celtics who attempted a shot in the game made at least 50 percent of their attempts.

- Horford and Robert Williams each blocked three shots.

- Boston logged a 50/40/90 night as a team by making 50 percent of its field goals, 42.9 percent of its 3s, and 94.1 percent of its free throws.

- The Celtics committed only seven turnovers in the game.

"Each and every game it don’t gotta be pretty. We just gotta get it done."

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Keys to the Game: Celtics 128, Hawks 120

Trae Young made the biggest shot of the night to extend a series many thought would end Tuesday night.

With 7.3 seconds remaining in regulation, Young caught an inbound pass deep in the backcourt and dribbled into a pullup 3-pointer with 1.8 seconds left that splashed through the net to push Atlanta ahead 119-117. Boston was unable to answer with a bucket at the other end before the final buzzer sounded.

Young’s game-winning shot came after Derrick White dropped two free throws through the net with 7.3 seconds left to push the Celtics ahead by one. All Boston needed was a stop to punch its way into the next round, but Young had different plans.

Young’s shot completed a 13-point, fourth-quarter comeback win for the Hawks, who trailed 102-89 with less than nine minutes remaining. Boston also held a 12-point advantage with a little more than five minutes left on the clock.

The Celtics allowed Atlanta to claw back into the game by committing four turnovers from the 3:26 mark of the fourth quarter to the 1:23 mark. The Hawks turned those turnovers into nine points, which culminated with a 114-113 lead.

Boston had chances to secure the win down the stretch, but could not get the stops it needed during the final 20 seconds of the game.

Jaylen Brown was Boston’s top player from the opening jump through the final buzzer. He scored a team-best 35 points, while no other member of the team scored more than 19.

Brown tallied his points with a strong shooting performance that featured 15 makes on 23 shot attempts. He made one more shot attempt than Trae Young despite attempting 10 fewer shots from the field.

In addition to his scoring, Brown also tallied seven rebounds and five assists. Those five helpers marked his highest postseason assist total since Game 3 of last season's NBA Finals.

"I think it's more we just lost our pace a little bit on the offensive end, partly on me making sure we run a good play. We talk about playing faster down the stretch, and I thought we just lost some of our pace, which allowed them to pressure us and get into passing lanes."

- Joe Mazzulla on what led to Atlanta's comeback

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Keys to the Game: Hawks 119, Celtics 117

Jaylen Brown took over down the stretch of Game 4, and he did so with a combination of skills from all over the court.

Surprisingly, it was Brown’s passing game that first impacted Game 4 during crunch time. The likely All-NBA wing dished two assists that led to Rob Williams layups, all within a span of just 37 seconds to provide Boston with a seven-point lead at the 3:14 mark of the fourth quarter. Each pass came off a drive to the basket, with the first coming on a wrap-around pocket pass under the basket, and the second coming via a drop-off pass for an easy two for Williams.

Shortly thereafter, following two free throws from Jayson Tatum, Brown then used his outstanding defensive abilities to stop Dejounte Murray. The two went at it in an isolation situation and Brown was draped all over Murray the entire time. He eventually forced a turnover with 2:27 left that led to a 3-pointer by Tatum, which pushed the C’s ahead by 12.

From that moment on, Brown would score seven points to help Boston close out a 129-121 win. He first cashed in on a 3-pointer, then slammed home a driving dunk along the baseline, and added in two free throws with 13.6 seconds left to close out his scoring on the night.

Most will look to Brown’s 31 points as his greatest impact on the game, but those two assists two Williams and his lockdown defense on Murray are what changed the course of the game.

Celtics fans wanted more from Robert Williams. They got it Sunday night.

Williams finished with a monster double-double off the bench with a game-high 15 rebounds to go along with 13 points. He was the only member of the Celtics who logged a double-double during the game.

Boston’s concentration heading into this contest was to protect the glass. Williams helped the C’s excel in that area with his 12 defensive boards and three offensive boards. His 15 rebounds marked his highest total since grabbing 16 way back on Feb. 12 against Memphis.

At the offensive end, Williams made four of his five shot attempts and set a new season high for free throw attempts with six. He converted on five of those attempts, which also set a new season high.

And his impact didn’t end there. Williams also contributed three assists, two steals and two blocked shots for an outstanding all-around performance that helped to fuel the Celtics to a 3-1 series lead.

"I saw his face. And then after that, I just saw his poise."

- Joe Mazzulla on what changed when Jaylen Brown decided during Game 4 to play without his face mask

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Keys to the Game: Celtics 129, Hawks 121

The Celtics dropped Game 3 in Atlanta but feel far from defeated. They know exactly where they made mistakes, and they’re eager to correct them Sunday night in Game 4.

Boston noted two particular areas of focus following its 130-122 loss to the Hawks: containment of Atlanta’s second unit, and defensive rebounding. Interestingly enough, the two also happened to overlap Friday night.

Atlanta’s bench poured in 44 points during Game 3 after scoring a total of only 50 over the first two games of the series. Bogdan Bogdanovic and Saddiq Bey led the bench charge with 15 points apiece on a combined 11-for-15 shooting effort, while Jalen Johnson also added in 10 points off the bench.

The Celtics, and Joe Mazzulla in particular, pointed to the second quarter as the moment at which they allowed those three Atlanta reserves to catch a rhythm.

“We let some of their role guys get hot,” Mazzulla said after the loss. “I thought that second quarter dictated the game, where Bogdanovic and Bey kinda made a huge difference when Trae Young went out. I thought that gave them life, and I thought they played a pretty complete game.”

Boston’s coach hit the nail on the head, as Bogdanovic, Bey and Johnson combined to score 19 points on a 7-for-8 shooting, including five 3-pointers, during the second period. The Hawks outscored Boston by 13 points while Bogdanovic was on the floor during the frame.

Had this game been played inside the friendly confines of TD Garden, the C’s likely would have had a chance to wrangle Atlanta’s reserves at some point the rest of the night. However, this game was played inside State Farm Arena, and it’s far more difficult to flip the switch on an opposing role player when they’re inside their home arena.

“We’re in the NBA, and we’ve got a lot of players and they’re here for a reason,” said Marcus Smart, who scored a season-high 24 points. “So you give guys confidence, at home, they get moments like that and it came back to bite us in the butt.”

Boston’s struggles on the defensive glass also came back to bite it in the butt. The Hawks piled up 23 second-chance points after totaling just 25 over the first two games combined. Four separate Hawks grabbed multiple offensive rebounds, including a game-best four from Clint Capela. Atlanta capitalized on those secondary opportunities far more often than not, as it connected on nine of its 15 second-chance shots.

This is where the crossover exists between Boston’s two areas of focus, because it was Atlanta’s reserves who oftentimes cashed in on those second-chance opportunities.

“We gotta be able to stop that,” Smart commented. “Like I said, they get second-chance shots, they get to feeling good. So we did a good job on our first-shot defense. Just got to clean it up with the rebounds.”

Sounds simple, but it might just be true. Atlanta played exceptionally well Friday night. There’s no questioning that. The Hawks torched the nets against the league’s No. 2 defense from the regular season, and they cashed in on second-chance opportunities while their reserves shot the lights out.

Yet still, despite all of that, this game went down to the final minute as the Hawks eked out a win.

The Celtics have diagnosed their missteps and are looking forward to rectifying them in Game 4. If they do, this series should shift right back to where it was heading into Friday night: in Boston’s control.

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Defensive Rebounding, Hawks Reserves Bite C's in Game 3

Give credit where credit is due: the Atlanta Hawks played well Friday night, and they made every shot they needed to make down the stretch.

The biggest shot of the night was Trae Young’s driving floater with 45.5 seconds left. That bucket pushed Atlanta ahead by five, just seconds after Jayson Tatum misfired on a potential game-tying 3-pointer at the other end.

Young added on two free throws a few short moments later, after another missed 3 by Boston, to push Atlanta ahead by seven and essentially ice the game. The C’s never got closer than six from that moment on.

The Hawks scored on five straight possessions from the 2:22 mark through the final buzzer. That stretch began with Atlanta leading by only two, and ended with it winning 130-122. During the run, Young and Dejounte Murray each made 3-pointers, and Young scored his floater and four free throws.

Marcus Smart was fantastic during Game 3. Unfortunately, his performance just wasn’t enough to push the Celtics into the winner’s circle.

Smart poured in 24 points for Boston to mark his highest scoring output of the entire season. He notched those points on a 9-for-19 shooting effort from the field, which included a game-high five makes from long distance.

Smart also tied Jaylen Brown for the game’s top steals mark with three, and led Boston in assists with eight. He rounded out his box score with three rebounds during his nearly 33 minutes of action.

Boston’s loss put a damper on Smart’s night, as did his late tumble to the ground on a rebound attempt. He was knocked off-balance while he was in the air attempting to grab a board and landed directly on his back. Smart hobbled from that moment on but was able to finish the game, and he actually scored five of his 24 points after the fall.

"I thought that second quarter dictated the game, when (Bogdan) Bogdanovic and (Saddiq) Bey kinda made a huge difference when Trae Young went out, and I thought that gave them life and I thought they played a pretty complete game."

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Keys to the Game: Hawks 130, Celtics 122

The Celtics had a choice to make after falling behind 22-11 out of the gates Tuesday night: respond, or fold. They chose the former, and in resounding fashion.

Boston responded to its 11-point deficit by rattling off the game’s next 14 points to pull ahead 25-22. That run not only got them back into the game, but it deposited an arena’s worth of energy in their back pocket to fuel their performance the rest of the night.

The Celtics rode that momentum to a 15-point lead during the second quarter, and a 20-point lead during the third quarter. They never looked back from there as they maintained an advantage of at least eight points the rest of the way en route to a 119-106 victory.

What may have initiated that game-changing, 14-0 run during the opening frame was a substitution. Robert Williams checked into the contest at the 6:34 mark with the C’s trailing 17-9. He didn’t immediately change the tenor of the game, but he wasn’t far off from doing so.

Williams scored his first basket of the night a minute and 41 seconds after he checked in, on a cutting layup off a pass from Jaylen Brown. He would go on to also score Boston’s next two baskets, all while upping the team’s defensive energy. He later assisted on a Marcus Smart 3-pointer that tied the game up at 22-22.

Once the Celtics gained control of this game, they never let it go. They responded every time Atlanta made a push and comfortably held on through the final buzzer.

Jayson Tatum returned to his normal ways during Game 2 by stuffing the stat sheet with a game-high point total and a team-high rebound total.

Tatum fueled the Celtics to a 2-0 series lead by dropping 29 points to tie Dejounte Murray for the top mark in the game. He did so while not attempting a single free throw. How did he get there? By shooting 12-for-22 from the floor and 5-for-9 from long distance.

He wound up with the team’s only double-double as well, thanks to his team-high 10 rebounds, all of which were grabbed at the defensive end of the floor. Tatum closed out his box score with six assists, a steal and a blocked shot during nearly 40 minutes of action.

"The Playoffs is all about adjustments, trying to move on from game to game, see what you can do better, right? We had two days of prep and two days of film, and I think we played better."

- Jayson Tatum on Boston delivering during Game 2

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Keys to the Game: Celtics 119, Hawks 106

The Celtics sent a league-wide alert Saturday afternoon stating that they weren’t messing around heading into this postseason.

They opened the NBA Playoffs by hosting Game 1 against the Atlanta Hawks, and they demolished their visitors during the first half.

Boston led by 30 at halftime after dominating the early portion of the second quarter. The C’s put together a 20-3 run from the 10:00 mark to the 6:10 mark to pull ahead by 25 and take complete control of the game.

What fueled the run was elite 3-point shooting and strong defense. Boston canned four 3-pointers during the spurt: two from Marcus Smart, and one each from Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. Malcolm Brogdon made two free throws and tossed an assist to Robert Williams for a layup to start the run, and Tatum and Brown each scored at the rim in the middle of the run to account for the remainder of the 20 points.

At the other end of the floor, Boston’s swarming defense prevented the Hawks from gaining any offensive rhythm. Atlanta managed to score just three free throws during the four-minute stretch while shooting 0-for-8 from the field and committing one turnover.

The Celtics maintained complete control of the game from that moment on. Yes, the Hawks rattled off a bit of a run to make the score more respectable, but this victory was never in doubt for Boston as it advanced to 1-0 in the series.

Derrick White did it all during Game 1 against the Hawks. Scoring? Check. Passing? Check. Defense? Check. He was nothing short of stellar during his 38-plus minutes of action.&nbsp;

Boston outscored Atlanta by 13 points while he was on the court and as he scored 24 points. White made seven of his 13 shot attempts, four of his seven 3-pointers and six of his seven free throws to account for his point total. He also tied Marcus Smart for the team high in assists with seven, all while committing just two turnovers.

At the defensive end, the man who led all NBA guards in blocked shots this season continued to thwart shooters by blocking two more during Game 1. He was one of three Celtics who blocked two shots, along with Marcus Smart and Al Horford.

"He kinda just does things randomly that seems crazy, but it works."

- Derrick White on Marcus Smart's defensive tactics

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Keys to the Game: Celtics 112, Hawks 99

Taylor Snow

BOSTON – Joe Mazzulla on Sunday became just the second head coach in Celtics history to reach 57 wins in his rookie season, trailing only Bill Russell’s 60 wins from his inaugural 1966-67 season as Boston’s player-coach.&nbsp;

Now, Mazzulla has an opportunity to pull off a feat that no first-year coach in franchise history has accomplished: winning a championship.  

It’s a realistic goal for the defending Eastern Conference champions after finishing just one win shy of the NBA’s best record while also owning the No. 1 net rating in the league. And Mazzulla’s guidance has played a major role in making it so.&nbsp;

His journey could not have been foreseen seven months ago. On the eve of the first day of training camp, the 34-year-old New England native was unexpectedly asked to step in as the team’s interim head coach, and his professionalism in handling that moment still cannot be emphasized enough. He’s remained poised from Game 1 through Game 82, helping the team maintain its success from the previous year while also growing in his role.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens touched upon those points during a rare end-of-season press conference Sunday morning while reflecting on Mazzulla’s progress.&nbsp;

“If you watch in the last couple of months, he's calling the game as he sees it now even more so than before,” Stevens said. “He’s quicker to stop a run, he's quicker to do things. He may stop a game so he can make a sub. He may let a game go so [the opposition] can't make a sub. There are a lot of decisions to be made in that moment and you kind of feel out how your team best needs you, and that takes time. That takes time for a person that's done it for 30 years and that takes time for a person that's never done it before, and he's done a good job … All he wants to do is learn and grow and he's great with that. I think that he's been a great strength for us.” 

Mazzulla agreed with Stevens’ point that there is a lot to feel out, especially during his first season after transitioning from the assistants’ bench to the head coach’s box. His approach was to stay in the moment as much as possible, and then digest those moments and learn how to improve. 

“I think you have to go through certain stuff in order to be aware of it,” Mazzulla said. “There’s just some stuff that you can’t simulate. And so, I think my focus was on, ‘What’s the most important thing at this time?’ And then along the way, you see some of the stuff you need to get better at. You handle each situation differently. I think I’ve just tried to be open-minded and flexible throughout the entire year, understanding that it’s not going to go well all the time. At the same time, I have a lot of good people around me and we’re going to figure it out. And so, I think if you can just maintain that open-minded perspective, it will help you.” 

Mazzulla has constantly praised those people around him – his assistant coaches and his players – for the way in which they’ve worked together to maintain their status as a championship contender. That group has also fully bought into his leadership.&nbsp;

Al Horford said Mazzulla was “a big help for our group” during last year’s Finals run. And after seeing how confidently Mazzulla stepped into an elevated role at the start of this season, “We’ve just been following.”&nbsp;

They’ve followed him through successful stretches, such as the team’s 21-5 start through early December.&nbsp;

They’ve followed him through rough patches, such as when they lost four out of seven after the All-Star break.&nbsp;

And they’ve followed him as the Celtics righted the ship and closed out the final month of the regular season with both the best offensive and defensive ratings in the league.&nbsp;

Now, they’re ready to follow their rookie head coach as they embark on the most important part of their journey: the pursuit of a title.&nbsp;