The Boston Celtics were victorious on Friday night by a final score of 121-109. This game was all Celtics for the entire duration. The Celtics played outstanding on both ends of the floor, getting steals and getting easy transition baskets.
Celtics:
For the Celtics, this was a fantastic game on both ends of the floor. They played with a lot more energy and fire than the previous game against the Hawks. It was also a very encouraging game for Kemba Walker, scoring a career high 28 points at 10-16 shooting.
For the Celtics the key was ball movement, energy and effort. The Celtics did just that building a 25 point lead at halftime. As for shooting, Boston shot the ball terrific shooting at a clip of 55% from the field and 40% from the arch.
The Celtics had six guys score in double figures. Leading the way for the Celtics was Kemba Walker with 28 points while adding 6 assist and 5 rebounds. Also scoring for them, Jayson Tatum had 27 and Jaylen Brown had 17. Rob Williams had a fantastic 12 points and 4 blocks off the bench. This game is huge momentum heading on the road as they head to New Orleans. Boston had a season-high 12 blocks Friday Night as well.
“Kemba’s been really good,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens stated. “We’ve struggled through this stretch and there’s been a lot of angst and a lot of talk. But in three of the four games he’s played in we’ve won. And in all of them he’s played well.”
With this win, the Celtics improve back up to above .500 and improve to 15-14 on the season, bouncing back after the loss against Atlanta on Wednesday.
Hawks:
For the Hawks it was a struggling night for them compared to Wednesday nights game. The Hawks struggled on both ends of the floor, they struggled to get stops and they also struggled on transition defense. As for the Hawks on the shooting end they struggled big time, Shooting 42% from the field and 33% from the arch.
Despite the loss, the Hawks had a very encouraging performance from Trae Young who scored 31 points on 10-16 shooting and 11 assist, but had 6 turnovers. The Hawks had just three guys score in double figures.
Leading the way for the Hawks was Trae Young, with his statline stated above. Also scoring for the Hawks was Clint Capela with 24 points on 11-14 shooting and a monstrous 14 rebounds and Solomon Hill with 12 points on 3-4 shooting.
Takeaways/Final Thoughts
- The double big lineup worked to perfection for the Celtics tonight
- Rob Williams brought the energy off the bench which the Celtics needed
- The Celtics played with defensive intensity
- Kemba Walker was absolutely fantastic tonight
- Daniel Theis brought pressure in the middle of the defense which was missing the last two games
After a great win, the Celtics look to continue this momentum as they take on the Pelicans at 3:30 ET on Sunday afternoon.