Some NBA forecasters predicted that the Celtics might turn out to be this season’s version of the Atlanta Hawks – a deep team that overachieves despite lacking a superstar. On Friday night, we saw that it’s an actual possibility.
The Celtics beat Atlanta, 106-93, behind 23 points and 10 assists from Isaiah Thomas, and Amir Johnson’s first breakout performance in green and white: 19 points, eight rebounds, four assists, three steals and three blocks. Boston owned the glass, 50-35, including 17 offensive rebounds that produced 24 second-chance points. That effort, plus 10 steals, enabled them to take 103 shots to Atlanta’s 76, and overcome 40.8% shooting for the night.
Kelly Olynyk showed up with 15 points on 6-13 from the field (3-6 on threes). Jae Crowder had 13 points, eight rebounds (six offensive), four steals, and his usual forceful defense. Jared Sullinger added 10 points and 10 rebounds.
For Atlanta, Paul Millsap led with 14 points and Al Horford added 13. The Hawks had six players in double figures.
The ever-changing starting five was different again for this game. Marcus Smart was back for the tipoff after coming off the bench Wednesday, joined by Crowder, Johnson, Sullinger and Thomas (the experiment continues).
Johnson started strongly by blocking a Horford shot on weak-side rotation and scoring Boston’s first five points (a three and two free throws). Amir finished the quarter with seven points and three rebounds, while Sullinger had six and four. Millsap led the Hawks with 10 points. The Celtics trailed after the quarter, 26-23, shooting just 33.3 percent but holding a 16-9 rebounding edge.
At halftime, the score was 45-45, and the Celts were the definition of balanced scoring: seven players had between five and seven points apiece. One of them was Tyler Zeller, who made his first appearance in a week and had a three-point play on his way to five points in six minutes.
Throughout the first half, the Celtics played tough but their shooting struggles continued. On several occasions, the Cs had flurries of three or four shots/tips/putbacks but just couldn’t get the ball to fall. Thomas and Crowder were especially ragged, combining to shoot 4-15 for the half. Boston was just 17-50 (34%) in the half, including only 5-18 (27.8%) from the arc. They did control the glass, with a 30-21 advantage. Sully led with eight boards.
The lid came off in third quarter, as Boston shot 14-28 on the way to 35 points and an 80-69 lead. IT came alive with 11 points while reclaiming some swagger. Johnson added eight points, an emphatic block and several Tommy Points. Olynyk also tallied eight in the quarter, including two three-pointers, taking his shots with no hesitation for a change. All this produced an 18-9 run over the last five minutes of the third quarter, capped by a Johnson putback at the buzzer.
In the fourth, Boston’s lead peaked at 86-71, but Dennis Schroder hit seven straight points to keep the Hawks in it. And when Mike Muscala made a conventional three-point play and three more free throws, Atlanta had a 12-0 run and the lead was down to 86-83.
Two straight crucial treys by Thomas kept the Celtics ahead. Then Evan Turner, who was called for three fouls in five first-half minutes and missed his first nine shots, came up big in the final four minutes by making a 19-footer and a three-point play. Crowder then hit his first trey in five tries, followed by a mid-range jumper, to complete a 10-point run that closed it out. Atlanta didn’t score in the final three minutes.
The Green:
- After the Hawks got within 96-93 and the Celtics were in a possession that was about to break down, Brad Stevens called a timeout with eight seconds on the shot clock. The after-timeout play call resulted in a Johnson layup, setting off the final 10-0 run.
- Crowder now has at least three steals in six of eight games.
- Boston is back to .500 at 4-4, handing Atlanta its first road loss this season.
- The Celtics held a pregame moment of silence to pay respects to Friday’s terrorism victims in Paris.
The Gross:
- Smart was just 2-10 from the floor.
- For the second straight game, Avery Bradley rested due to a calf bruise.
The Greenlights:
IT corner treys
Amir throwdown
Jae dagger
See many more great highlights of tonight’s game on the KWAPT_RedsArmy Vines page.
The Grid:
- Turnovers: Hawks 16, Celtics 10
- Points in the Paint: Hawks 48 (24/45), Celtics 50 (25/47)
- 2nd-Chance Points: Hawks 7 (2/5), Celtics 24 (10/22)
- Fast-Break Points: Hawks 4 (2/5), Celtics 11 (4/11)
- 3-pointers: Hawks 6-20 (30%), Celtics 11-33 (33.3%)
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