The Boston Celtics entered Saturday night hoping to build off consecutive blowout victories against the Wizards and the Kings while the Atlanta Hawks came in as winners of five straight games.
There were no notable injuries for either team this game, which made for a potential special matchup.
We all heard the rumblings of Tatum’s message to the team to stay “locked in” and the Celtics came out as anything but.
The first quarter was littered with a series of lazy passes from the C’s which, ultimately, led to turnovers. The Hawks quickly capitalized on these sloppy plays and built up a 12 point cushion after one.
The lead ballooned to 15 off an impressive run from the Hawks bench in the second quarter. There were two separate runs of 14-2 and 10-0 to open and close the half.
The Boston Celtics showed some signs of life in the third, cutting the lead all the way to one as the ultimate tease. The top-five defense really dug in this quarter, but a myriad of careless turnovers killed the comeback kids in the final frame.
It seemed like whenever the Celtics made any type of run, Atlanta had an answer in timely buckets or forcing those bitter apple turnovers.
The final score saw the Hawks soaring and the C’s momentum grounded to a halt, as they went on to win 108-92. Atlanta was led by the stellar play of their bench, which had a blistering 46 points.
Trae Young had 21 points on a rough shooting night going 8-25 but impacted the game in other ways with his rebounding and playmaking.
Top Celtics trade prospect, John Collins, scored 21 points, snatched nine boards and blocked four shots on the night.
For the C’s side of the ledger, we will get deeper into it, showing 3 takeaways: