“We all have pride, right?” said Korver, who missed each of his seven 3-pointers in the series opener. Could Thomas, Boston’s best player, be suspended for Game 4?
Advertisement
As good as Korver and the Hawks were in the early going, this one will be remembered more for the Celtics’ grisly start.
Isaiah Thomas is shooting 33 percent from the floor during this playoff series.
Crowder had plenty of company in his shooting misery. A lack of shooting allowed Atlanta to pack the paint, which led to it blocking 15 shots and limiting the C’s to just seven first-quarter points.
For the Celtics, point guard Marcus Smart is probable in Game 3 with a rib contusion, and reports say he does plan to be ready to play by Friday night.
The Celtics finished the 2015-16 regular season with a 28-13 record on Causeway Street.
What seems to have precipitated the dustup between Thomas and Schroder was an incident underneath the basket in the first quarter. Assists-Boston 16 (Crowder, Smart, Turner 3), Atlanta 20 (Teague 6). Kirk Hinrich would get those backup point guard minutes and he’s simply not as good a shot creator as Schroder.
“We’ve got to figure it out”.
Atlanta obviously feels good where it stands, but Korver said the team is wary of awaits them in Boston. “Not just for myself, but for everybody on this team“.
Every one of the 13 San Antonio Spurs that were declared active for Game 2 of their first round series with the Memphis Grizzlies played at least six minutes and registered at least two points in the team’s 26 point blowout win.
The Hawks responded with a solid second quarter, but the Celtics did just enough to take a 12-point lead into halftime.
That, for all intents and purposes, was it. Eighth-seeded Detroit has its back against the wall after the two road losses and faces a must-win situation in Game 3. So from my standpoint, we look at Game 1, we look at Game 2, we look at the things we can do well, and we need to do them as well as we can for those 48 minutes that are coming up. TV: 8 p.m. ET, ESPN2, FSN Southeast (Atlanta), CSN New England (Boston) LINE HISTORY: The Celtics opened as three-point favorites at home and the total opened at 200.5 – neither line has moved since hitting the betting board. Bradley, the team’s second-leading scorer, went down in Game 1 with a badly strained hamstring and is unlikely to play the rest of the series. Two of the Celtics’ best shooters, Kelly Olynyk and Avery Bradley, are dealing with injuries.
Even so, no one expected it to be this bad. The Hawks shot only 39 percent for the game, but connected on 11 3-pointers. They also surrendered seven in the fourth period of a 90-64 victory over the Miami Heat in 2009.
Former All-Stars center Al Horford and forward Kyle Korver emerged in the win, having 17 points each.
Asked following the morning shoot-around if he was concerned about a letdown, Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said, “Coaches worry about everything”.
Stevens, who lost his first six playoff games as a professional coach, changed his starting lineup, inserting Turner and Jonas Jerebko.
Advertisement
“We’ve relied on our depth all year, not just when Steph’s out”, Draymond Green said. That paid off in Game 1 with Teague and Al Horford managing to hold off Boston’s frantic comeback with an effective two-man game down the stretch.
