The defending Eastern Conference Champions welcomed a familiar foe as the Boston Celtics hosted the Atlanta Hawks in the first game of their first-round playoff series. Boston is looking for its record-breaking 18th NBA title and its first since the Big 3 led the Celtics to glory in 2008. It was a strong start as second-seeded Boston dominated the first half before holding serve in the second half to win the game 112-99 and take a 1-0 series lead.
CELTICS DOMINANT OFFENSIVELY
Boston came out firing on all cylinders in the first half scoring 74 points en route to a 30-point halftime lead. It’s tied for the largest playoff halftime lead in franchise history, which is impressive when you consider this is the franchise of Bill Russell, Larry Bird and Kevin Garnett. Jaylen Brown led all scorers with 29 points, and Jayson Tatum added 25 as Boston rolled to the victory.
One area where the Celtics will look to improve in game two is turnovers. Boston gave the ball away 16 times resulting in 19 points for Atlanta. Turnovers helped contribute to a strong second half for the Hawks that brought the deficit to down to 13. If the Hawks could’ve gotten rolling earlier, it might have been a different story.
CELTICS DEFENSE LOCKED IN
While the offense was cruising, shooting 47.7% from the floor, the defense was keeping the Hawks grounded. Boston held Atlanta to 38.8 percent shooting and star player Trae Young to just 16 points. Atlanta is one of the worst defensive teams to make the playoffs, but their offense usually covers their defensive inefficiencies. On Saturday, Boston proved the old adage “great defense beats great offense.”
HISTORY ON CELTICS SIDE
This is the 13th time the Celtics and Hawks have faced off in the playoffs. Boston has won ten of the previous 12 series, but Atlanta won the last time these two teams met in 2016. The Hawks also won the NBA Finals over Boston back in 1958 when they were still in St. Louis.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Celtics will host game two of the series before play shifts to Atlanta for games three and four. Games five, six and seven, remain as necessary for the time being. The Celtics hope to keep their strong start rolling, while the Hawks will be looking for some shots to fall. Game two will be Tuesday night with a 7 pm Eastern tipoff.
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