Short-handed Celtics Defeat Atlanta 113-103
Atlanta was looking to win its third straight game, but they were going to have to do it on the road against a very good, but shorthanded Celtics team.
Atlanta was also shorthanded though. They lost Jalen Johnson to a wrist injury last night and it was reported that Johnson would miss 4-6 weeks.
Boston was missing Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis tonight, but it did not seem to bother them all that much. The Celtics are the top team in the Eastern Conference for a reason and they showed it tonight.
Atlanta started Saddiq Bey in place of Johnson and that was not a surprise. Bey began the season as the starter until Johnson took over and that was the most logical choice. Trae Young, Dejounte Murray, De'Andre Hunter, and Clint Capela were the other starters.
With Holiday and Porzingis out, the Celtics went with Derrick White, Dalano Banton, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, and Al Horford.
Trae Young vs the Celtics tonight
Boston got off to a strong start in this game. They began the game on a 12-4 run, but a three from Hunter and one from Young made it 12-10. Boston led 24-17 with three minutes to go in the quarter. Atlanta would use their bench pretty early due to questionable foul calls on Saddiq Bey and AJ Griffin was the first guy in, but Onyeka Okongwu, Wesley Matthews and Bogdan Bogdanovic also got in.
Boston led 33-26 after the first and Atlanta was having a hard time hitting their two-point shots, but they were shooting 50% from three. Young had 13 points in the first quarter and Tatum had 10 for the Celtics.
The second quarter belonged to the Celtics though.
Atlanta continued to have shooting woes and Boston led by 16 points at the half 69-53. The Hawks were shooting 40.4% from the field and 40% from three. Boston was shooting 47.3% from the field and 33.3% from three.
Through the first part of the third quarter, it looked like a Celtics blowout was going to occur. They led by as many as 20 points but a big 16-3 run from the Hawks got them within six.
The main reason why was Bogdanovic. He hit his first seven threes of the game and his first eight shots and he and Young were the entire offense in the second half. De'Andre Hunter also played well in the second half. The Hawks trailed 90-82 going into the fourth quarter.
No matter how close Atlanta got the score down in the fourth quarter, they could not pull within enough to take the lead in Boston. The Hawks called a timeout with 4:48 left in the game trailing by nine after a jumper from Murray and it felt like they had to come together for one last run.
It was not meant to be tonight. Atlanta could not hit a basket and despite their solid defense, they could not score the ball and the Celtics won.
Atlanta shot 40.9% from the floor in this game and 35.8% from three. Young finished with 33 points , Hunter had 24, and Bogdanovic had 23.
Boston shot 44.2% from the field and 27.7% from three. Tatum had 34 points and Brown had 21.
Atlanta drops to 8-8 and will get tomorrow off before their next game on Tuesday against Cleveland.
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