What really makes the Celtics work, though, is having a gunner and awesome point guard in Isaiah Thomas.
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Teague scored 23 points and doled out 12 assists, making sure Atlanta maintained the home-court edge with a 102-101 victory in Game 1 Saturday night after the gritty Celtics rallied from a 19-point deficit. The Celtics came out of it raining treys, as they went on a 9-2 run before Avery Bradley strained his hamstring and killed the momentum. Isaiah Thomas is averaging 27 points and eight assists while Avery Bradley is averaging 18 points and three rebounds. A core consisting of Al Horford, Jeff Teague, Kyle Korver and Paul Millsap could be blown up if the Hawks find themselves unable to represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals. We’ll see. Moving forward, one of our better players is out. Because the Celtics found something after halftime, when they finally started converting some of the same open looks they missed before halftime. “We said at the half, ‘We ride this way”. But neither of those guys is the threat that Bradley is offensively, meaning that Boston could struggle to match Atlanta’s cohesive, two-way depth for the remainder of the series.
Game two of the series is on Tuesday.
To watch the Boston Celtics vs. Atlanta Hawks NBA first-round playoff Game One stream live online, use the stream provided by WatchESPN at this link, or download the WatchESPN app to watch the game on mobile devices, as well as on set-top devices such as Roku and Apple TV. The tied the game at 80 with 7:22 left to play, and took their first lead of the game with 6:48 to play. Whenever the paint was unprotected Atlanta went inside and made the Celtics pay. “But I’ve just got to figure it out, continue to get treatment, figure out what we’ll do with it the next couple days and there’s no excuses”.
Maintained at a brisk 21 degrees, entry is permitted to people of all ages, It’s also half off with a Boston Celtics postseason game ticket stub.
Boston coach Brad Stevens said Bradley told him he heard something pop.
But Thomas and the Celtics turned the tide in the third quarter.
The Celtics shot a bad 23.1 percent from the field in the first half and trailed 51-34 at the half.
The onslaught kept coming in the second quarter and, again, it was the defense in the driver’s seat. Scoring points off big defensive plays will be essential if the Celtics hope to return to Boston with a chance to win the series on their home court. He hit three free throws down the stretch to help Atlanta hang on. On their next possession, Celtics’ Jae Crowder made a jumper to put the Celtics in the lead for the first in the game.
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After failing to take care of business against the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night, dropping from third to fourth seed, they’ll now try their hand in a first round matchup against a young and risky Boston Celtics team built around numerous same philosophies. Smart finished with 15 points and five rebounds on 3-6 shooting from three-point range, which was a pleasant surprise considering he shot 25 percent from distance in the regular season.
