The Celtics once more looked like a competition nightmare for the Hawks.
The Celtics took a 2-0 lead in their first-round collection against the Hawks on Tuesday with another comfortable win– this time a 119-106 victory.
Below are the takeaways:
1. After racking up 22 points in Game 1, Derrick White was a menace again on Tuesday– piling up 26 points on 11-for-16 shooting to opt for 7 rebounds, two aids, and three obstructed shots. When the Celtics obtained him, the hope was that he would certainly be able to make an outsized impact playing alongside celebrities like Tatum and Brown, but thus far in this series (and also for an eyebrow-raising quantity of the routine season), White has been something like a 3rd star– a trusted 3-point shooter whenever he’s open who can obtain downhill to the basket when essential and also secure guards like Hawks’ celebrity Trae Young.
Joe Mazzulla kept in mind that White– along with Marcus Smart– typically gets the Celtics right into their crime swiftly.
” He has the ability to deal with, the capacity to play, and also when Smart and Jayson [Tatum] and also Jaylen [Brown] are developing benefits for others, and he is a beneficiary of those advantages sometimes, he does an excellent job of making the most of those,” Mazzulla claimed.
At one point in the fourth quarter, as White mosted likely to the free-throw line, Celtics followers serenaded him with “M-V-P” chants.
” We talked about it after the video game,” Tatum said. “He resembled, ‘That’s what it seems like?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, I think.'”.
White claimed he has expanded significantly a lot more comfortable throughout the season.
” Even during the normal period, it was JB in timeouts like, ‘C’mon, D, be hostile. Come on, do what you do,'” White claimed. “So it’s awesome to listen to that from [Brown and also Tatum] They all encouraged me to go out there and play my video game.”.
2. Tatum led the Celtics in racking up with 29, and also he gave out six helps also. Late in the game, the Hawks began doubling in an effort to speed up things up, but Tatum in particular managed it well as well as jumpstarted the Celtics’ crime with his passing away.
” His perseverance to be able to accept that– that enables us to reach our spacing,” Mazzulla stated. “As well as normally when that happens, there’s three 2-on-1s as well as you just need to find the ideal one.”.
The Hawks are battling mightily to fix the Tatum conundrum, specifically since De’Andre Seeker can’t do much regarding the Celtics’ star 1-on-1. Without any individual that can credibly pair up with Tatum, the Hawks’ protection runs the risk of being clambered as soon as he captures the ball. Offered all of the other inequalities on the flooring, that’s yet an additional tough problem for Quin Snyder to solve.
3. While the Hawks really did not mount much of a difficulty in either Video game 1 or 2, they did defeat the Celtics in a number of essential areas on Tuesday. Most especially, after out-rebounding the Celtics on the offending glass simply 14-12 on Saturday, they do with a much healthier 19-5 advantage in Game 2. They also took 48 3-pointers to 33 by the Celtics (although they made just one more than the Celtics).
” Just as good as it feels, we haven’t gotten better in 2 video games because we’re unable to manage the shot margin the way we require to,” Mazzulla claimed. “They are doing an excellent work of eliminating our threes, while they are sort of unleashing their people and also taking much more. So we have to do a good work at not turning it over, as well as we’re doing a wonderful work of safeguarding without fouling, and also there are still I ‘d state 8-10 rebounds that we could do a better job of developing.”.
4. The Celtics’ bigs were both impactful, in spite of having reasonably silent video games offensively. Al Horford continued to area Clint Capela to the 3-point line as well as was the recipient of this bullet pass from Jayson Tatum– hiding a three-way that basically sent out the video game right into waste time.
Jayson Tatum executes a nasty cross court bullet pass to Al Horford to drain the triple and beat the buzzer pic.twitter.com/kA7cPCIAXd
— dave (@nbadaves) April 19, 2023
” I tossed it mad since I was attempting to obtain it there,” Tatum said. “I understood it was 2 secs or much less as well as I really did not want them to disperse it or obstruct it. I attempted to get it there in time in order for him to get a good shot off.”.
On The Other Hand, Robert Williams missed his first shot of the series in the first fifty percent, however he was outstanding for the 2nd successive video game– impacting shots around the rim and demolishing protective rebounds on a night when the Celtics had a hard time to put an end to Hawks ownerships. Williams finished with eight factors, five rebounds, and 2 obstructed shots, and also belonged to a balanced Celtics scoring assault that outscored the Hawks 64-40 in the paint. Having him healthy for roughly 25 minutes per game is a huge enhancement over last year, when he returned early from meniscus surgery as well as appeared to be dragging his leg all over the floor.
5. Jaylen Brown had a quite cool set of shoes prepared to go for Game 2.
Jaylen Brown’s shoes tonight 🔥 pic.twitter.com/bwAcRDuKbw
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) April 18, 2023
Brown– who do with 18 points and also 3 swipes– exited the video game holding his hand in the 2nd half, however he told press reporters afterward that he feels fine.
6. The Hawks were dramatically better with Trae Youthful unemployed on Tuesday and made their huge go to close the void greatly with him unemployed.
Young had one more inadequate shooting efficiency– 24 factors, 9-for-22 shooting, 2-for-8 from 3, five turn overs– as well as he was once more the Celtics’ primary target on the protective end, completing a team-low minus-18 in the box rating. The only various other Hawks starter to complete in the downsides was Clint Capela (minus-5).
Because of this, as Youthful stepped to the free-throw line in the 4th quarter, Celtics followers serenaded him with passionate incantations of “overrated.” This series is an extremely challenging match for the undersized guard.
7. The Hawks spent a lot of time hunting Sam Hauser defensively in the very first fifty percent, and also it really did not go especially well. De’Andre Seeker and also Youthful particularly battled to beat Hauser off the bounce, which reduced the Hawks’ violation to a crawl.
Hauser Hunting pic.twitter.com/UB8dfetwKm
— Wow a highlight (@highlights1_nba) April 19, 2023
The Hawks are not the first string to slow down their violation with the assurance of attacking Hauser, nor are they likely to be the last, but the outcomes thus far haven’t been especially motivating.
8. Dejounte Murray saved the Hawks from being blown out in the 3rd quarter with 13 of his 24 points as well as three of his seven triples. After one jumper, Murray turned to the Celtics bench and also appeared to begin barking at Joe Mazzulla.
What did he state?
” He simply asked exactly how my day was going,” Mazzulla deadpanned. “He’s an excellent child, he’s an excellent person. I’ve learnt more about him simply through a great deal of the people from the Spurs organization, and also he was placing on a heck of a program.”.
9. The collection currently shifts back to Atlanta for the following two video games. Video game 3 ideas off at 7 p.m. on Friday.
” We took a fantastic shot from Atlanta tonite,” Brown claimed. “I thought we reacted well by moving the round. Different people tipped up as well as made plays, and that’s what we’re going to require in the playoffs. Now going on the roadway, we’ve reached take that same mentality as well as look to be hostile in a hard Atlanta setting.
” This belongs of the journey. Two games up is terrific dealing with home. Yet having the ability to win games when driving is going to inevitably make you a championship group. So this is the very first test and also I’m looking forward to it.”.
Last Updated: 19 April 2023
