Kent Bazemore scored 20 points and Dennis Schroder, questionable before the game with a left ankle sprain, added 20.
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The Celtics, who blew a 19-point third-quarter lead and led by as many as 20 in the first half, cut the Hawks’ lead in the best-of-seven series to 2-1. They haven’t been in these situations before, these types of games.
The general sentiment of the Atlanta locker room: You can’t win them all.
Atlanta did well to get back into the game after a wretched start and trailed by just one point entering the final six minutes of regulation. Whatever the case, the Celtics were wearing down and the good vibes from Isaiah Thomas’ scorching start seemed to be diminishing somewhat. His 11 points, 12 rebounds and four assists were earned nearly entirely while on the move, beginning with his over-the-top tip-in in the opening minute: When a midrange jumper by Thomas ricocheted and popped up from the rim like the cork out of a champagne bottle, Jerebko was rising up high to slam it back down the throat.
Playing by far its best first half of the series, Boston led by as many as 20 points before seeing that mostly erased by a 12-0 run by the Hawks in the third quarter.
The Celtics then survived a frenetic fourth quarter that featured three ties and two lead changes, finally getting separation with five consecutive points for a 104-98 lead. Game 4 in Boston is on Sunday night.
Celtics head coach Brad Stevens was a man in control Friday night.
Hoping to turn around Boston’s slow starts in the first two games, Stevens inserted Turner and Jonas Jerebko into the starting lineup.
It meant Boston was a much smaller team, but it also translated into a group that was a lot quicker and active in transition.
Jerebko’s dunk was the start of an electrifying sequence that included a few Thomas makes, a harbinger of things to come. The Celtics were on their way to a big first quarter and – after a second-half scare – a 111-103 win. He was 12 of 24 overall while making 5 of 12 from the arc.
Along with the quickened offensive pace, tempers were tweaked times. Thomas had to be restrained by Sullinger. There were double-technical fouls and flagrant fouls and reviews of other calls that could have been called flagrants.
As the fourth quarter went on, it was really discovered that it was simply Isaiah Thomas’ game.
Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said he expects the league to review the play. “The league does a thorough job in all things like this and they have high standards”. So if you’re waving to somebody in the crowd or a teammate, or motioning to a coach, I think that that reasoning doesn’t really hold water for me.
Schroder also Tweeted a screen shot of Thomas hitting him with the comment: “Wow”. However, the story line from now until Game 4 on Sunday will be the potential fallout from a first-quarter incident when Thomas swung his arm around and slapped Hawks guard Dennis Schroder in the face. “It’s playoff basketball – I’m not going to back down from anybody, and he knows that”. “And he knows that”. Veteran Kyle Korver said there was never any thought of retaliation from the bench. I didn’t mean to do it. I’m not gonna back down from anybody and any pause for a little bit and said and he knows that so.
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Part of the inspiration for Thomas’ big night came prior to the game via a pair of text messages from Pistons’ great Isiah Thomas and soon-to-be Hall of Famer Allen Iverson. “They’re looking in my eyes, they’re face-guarding me”. So when you have those faster players like it turner like it to repko who can switch on everything and not give up those open shots and makes just shooting much more hard for the winter hawks so what.
