After trailing by 11 in the first quarter to the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night, the Boston Celtics went on a 17-3 run and would take control of the game from there behind a combined 73 points from Jayson Tatum, Derrick White, and Jaylen Brown in a 119-106 win in game two of an NBA First Round Playoff series at TD Garden. Boston now leads the best of seven 2-0 with the series now changing venues to Atlanta for game three on Friday.
Boston had one early lead in the first 40 seconds on a Brown three-pointer, but the visiting Hawks went on a 20-8 run capped off by a De’Andre Hunter jumper from behind the arc to build a 22-11 lead with 5:42 left in the first quarter. The Celtics scored the next 14 points, tying it on a three-pointer from Marcus Smart and then taking the lead on 1-2 from the line by Brown and a steal and reserve layup by White at 25-22. A three-pointer by Bogdan Bogdanovic evened the score for Atlanta, but in the closing seconds Malcolm Brogdon banked one in from half court to give Boston the lead for good. With the green up 44-40 halfway through the second period, they would go on a 17-6 spurt to take the biggest lead of the first half finished off by a Tatum layup at 61-46 and would enjoy a 61-49 advantage at the break. Atlanta would only get as close as eight the rest of the way including in the fourth quarter with 8:54 left to play, before the hosts ran away with it by going on a run of 23-9 to balloon to the biggest lead of the night at 22.
Tatum led the way in the Boston victory with his second double double in as many games finishing with 29 points (5-9 three-pointers), 10 rebounds, and six assists. White was huge once again as he filled up the stat sheet tallying 26 points, seven rebounds, two assists, one steal, and three blocked shots. Brown had 18, while Smart and Brogdon also got into double figures. Smart had 14 points, five rebounds, six assists, and three steals while Brogdon hauled down seven boards and dished out eight assists. Dejounte Murray led Atlanta in the loss with 29 points (7-13 three-pointers), six rebounds, six assists, and four steals. Trae Young also chipped in 24 points and six assists. Game three is scheduled for a 7 p.m. tip on Friday night at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
Story by Chris Lessner/Video highlights courtesy of the NBA website
