If you’ve followed the Hawks for nearly a decade that’s just something you are used to hearing.
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The Hawks led by as many as 19 capitalizing on the Celtics poor shooting.
The Celtics are about to be without a key piece for the rest of their first-round series with the Hawks. I didn’t feel like it was louder or it was a more intense game.
Celtics head coach Brad Stevens acknowledged Terry would be among the young players who have not seen much action, who would get serious consideration to being added to the playing mix with Bradley out. “He said on the court that he heard a pop”.
The injury really opened things up for Teague. But Teague, appropriately enough, sealed the win with a couple of free throws that kissed off the front of the rim and dropped through.
Bradley scored 18 points before the injury.
Isaiah Thomas, after a sluggish start, led the Celtics with 27 points, including a long 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds left that at least created a bit of suspense. The Hawks called timeout and managed to get away an inbounds pass that ended it.
This was a match that should have gone to Boston Celtics as they nearly won the match. He is a four-time All-Star and has career averages of 14.3 points, 8.9 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.2 blocks.
“This is how we ride”, Stevens said.
“I just want to get treatment and take it day by day and hopefully I can be back by next game”, Bradley said.
Boston Celtics guard Avery Bradley has been diagnosed with a right hamstring strain that he suffered mid-way through the fourth quarter of Game 1 in the Celtics’ first-round series with the Atlanta Hawks.
But Thomas and the Celtics turned the tide in the third quarter. Boston not only loses its best perimeter defender, but also now will probably lose a big element of their bench – whether that be Evan Turner or Marcus Smart.
So now, Stevens has to make up his mind as to whether he’ll go small and start three guards, as he did when Jae Crowder missed several weeks with a high right ankle sprain. “It forced us to play small for 48 minutes a night, which I didn’t think I would ever do, but it allowed is to get into a great rhythm”. “We have to better than we were in the second half”.
But doing so without one of his most reliable players in the lineup is going to be incredibly hard. More coming on Bradley’s injury later. The dreaded Eastern Conference Semi-Finals.
“We can’t put ourselves in that big of a hole”, Thomas said. I said it last night.
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Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant (35) shoots over Dallas Mavericks guard Wesley Matthews (23) during the second half of Game 1 of a first-round NBA basketball playoff series, Saturday, April 16, 2016, in Oklahoma City. Smart finished with 15 points. Paul Millsap was indifferent in the 2015 postseason; on Saturday, he scored 14 points on 11 shots. The Hawks were awarded 35 free throws to Boston’s 19. So that year the Hawks went home in Round 1. “I don’t wish anything (bad) on anybody, my team or the opposing team, but I think this has always been the success story of my life whether it’s regular season, tournament, playoffs, whatever”. After going through warmups with no problems, he suited up but went scoreless in 8 1-2 minutes.
