The Atlanta Hawks found a formula to stop Isaiah Thomas in Game 5, and it brought them to the brink of a series win.
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Isaiah Thomas had a double-double with 25 points and 10 assists to lead Boston.
Jae Crowder and Evan Turner couldn’t hit the broad side of a backboard, let alone the front edge of the rim, and neither could Marcus Smart or Jared Sullinger.
However, there was no coming back from the barrage the Hawks dropped on the Celtics in the second and third quarters – and especially not with Thomas struggling.
After elevating to All-Star status this season, Thomas swore he wouldn’t be bottled up like the way the Cleveland Cavaliers managed to contain him during his first playoff appearance in 2015.
As you can see, we’ve got three potential closeout games tonight featuring the home team and underdog in two of them.
Atlanta averaged 8.6 blocks per game, with Millsap and Al Horford rejecting 2.6 shots in the series.
Celtics coach Brad Stevens stated the obvious: “They are better right now”.
“I think we’re a better team from a year ago, I really do”, Hawks guard Kyle Korver said.
The Atlanta Hawks were propelled by a well-balanced attack.
And with the series ready to be wrapped up, the Hawks need to win away from home to avoid forcing a deciding Game 7. “I think that we all expected better and more”.
He entered Game 5 as the leading scorer in the playoffs, but the Hawks increased their attention on him – swarming him each time he touched the ball – and Thomas scored a mere 32 points on 12-of-36 shooting during losses in Games 5 and 6.
Millsap had eight points and five rebounds in the half for Atlanta, which led by as many as 13 in the opening half.
Atlanta beat up Boston by ignoring their shooters, who proved they just couldn’t make enough shots to win.
Free agency and the Draft are great ways to upgrade the team, but trading is an important avenue as well.
As it is, all the pressure is on Cleveland to make it back to the NBA Finals, and who knows how James, Irving and Love and the Cavs’ chemistry will react if the Hawks can make things tough on them.
Other guys stepped up and they stuck to their gameplan, even when in droughts.
The Celtics were on the verge of turning their 26-point deficit into a two-, eh, maybe three-possession game, but kept committing costly fouls that slowed down their momentum.
Scott thinks he knows how can duplicate his Game 5 output. First of all, that seems like a lot of open three-point attempts? As it stands the Celtics find themselves in a sticky situation as their first game without injured Avery Bradley turned into a disaster.
The anemic Celtics looked as if they had nothing left offensively, forcing Stevens to insert rookie R.J. Hunter in hope that he might give them five minutes of Robby Benson (this being an obscure but cogent reference to the 1977 basketball movie One on One). On paper, Thomas had a double-double with 25 points and 10 assists.
“Our defense is going to have to be what it was in this series, if not better”, Korver said. The Hawks are on the verge of getting into the next round with a win.
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The matchup will start a single game road trip for Atlanta and a one game homestand for Boston.
