Fix the “Away” Mentality:Apr 24, 2016; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart (36) dunks the ball during the second half in game four of the first round of the NBA Playoffs against the Atlanta Hawks at TD Garden. Isaiah Thomas exploded for a game-high 42 points, Evan Turner moved into the starting lineup and chipped in with 17 points while Amir Johnson had 15 points as the Celtics dominated the first quarter by 37-20 to set up the win, but it wasn’t all one-way traffic as the Celtics really had to rally in the fourth quarter to come out on top. Boston truly thinks it should win this series. Soon after the slap, Schroder retaliated with a hard foul on Thomas, which led to a semi-scuffle between the two players.
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Thomas gave the Celtics everything they could have imagined and then some but they continue to leave a lot to be desired on the offensive end. But for now, his main focus is to defeat the Boston Celtics in their playoff series and bring the Atlanta Hawks to a higher level. Defense has been the Celtics’ calling card all season long and they put forth their most important performance to close out the game when their shooting slowed down. When your team is on the fritz, you do the same – except in this case, IT stood for Isaiah Thomas. “They’re all competitive; they’re all tough players”, he said.
In other words, “They put the shorter guy on me after I was already gassed from crushing everyone else”. Their real potential is then revealed through what happens if they have an all around good shooting game.
“He plays really, really, hard”, Stevens said. Forward Jae Crowder said the Celtics will monitor their aggressiveness while not allowing themselves to be pushed around.
“We wanted the last shot”. “‘(The Hawks) did what they were supposed to do in Atlanta, now it’s time for you guys to take advantage of being at home'”.
I know that whenever a punch is thrown, that typically leads to a suspension. “I just gave it everything I had on the defensive end and made sure he didn’t beat us”.
With 1:27 left in the first quarter, Thomas appeared to swipe at the Hawks’ Dennis Schroder’s head after the backup point guard made a layup. He spoke to the media following the Hawks’ practice but before the league announced its penalty to Thomas. If the series goes to 6 or 7 games there may be a possibility that we see Avery Bradley again, and I’m nearly certain that Kelly Olynyk will have returned by then.
“I’m a basketball player”.
The Celtics defeated the Hawks 111-103 on Friday.
“I’m just glad I wasn’t suspended and can help the team in Game 4”, he said. I think he is competitive, too.
Thomas has had a different backcourt partner at tip-off for each playoff game.
“He had a heck of a night”, Budenholzer said. “You got to determine between the two; you can be aggressive while still in control and I did get out of control a little bit tonight, but for the most part I stayed pretty much in control”. There’s a way we’d like our team to handle itself and be ultra-competitive, but ultra-classy and professional.
Marcus Smart is not a superstar, but no one should tell him that. They should go out on to the floor thinking that it does not matter who they play; they need to believe that they are going to win regardless. “But he knows how we want to conduct ourselves”.
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“You give Marcus Smart an assignment, he’s probably going to get it done”, said Celtics star Isaiah Thomas. The league cited an incident with 4:32 remaining in the fourth quarter for the penalty.
