Celtics 129, Hawks 108: Boston hands out another beatdown
BOSTON — The Celtics apparently learned their lesson about playing down to the competition early this season.
These days Boston is making opponents pay dearly for their inferiority.
The latest victims were the hapless Atlanta Hawks who on Friday night — despite running off 19 straight points during a five-minute stretch in the second quarter — were down as many as 29 in the second half of a 129-108 dismantling at TD Garden.
“We’ve been playing well these last few games, coming out with some pace and some attitude,” said Marcus Morris, who hit six 3-pointers on his way to a 20-point night. “Just setting the tempo. I think that’s really been helping us.”
The 21-point victory comes on the heels of a 56-point smackdown of the Chicago Bulls last weekend, a 28-point wipeout of the New York Knicks two days before that, and a 33-point beating of the Cleveland Cavaliers two weeks ago.
All three blowouts have come during a win streak that stretched to eight on Friday night as the Celtics once again looked much different than the team that dropped home games to the also-ran Orlando Magic and Knicks in the first six weeks of the season.
“You’re always going to run into stretches where it doesn’t feel as good," Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. “But we’re certainly capable. We feel a lot more comfortable where our spots are. You can tell they have a good feel for playing together. And, yet, there are still some groups that I think could play even better. So that’s encouraging.”
It was a short game for the Celtics starters on the first night of a back-to-back as Kyrie Irving scored 24 points with five rebounds and five assists in just 24 minutes, Jayson Tatum scored 22 points in 28 minutes, and Morris hit 6-of-8 3-pointers on his way to his 20 points in 25 minutes.
Gordon Hayward had a big return from missing the last two games with an illness as he scored 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting, including 3-for-3 on 3-pointers, in just 18 minutes. Daniel Theis scored 18 points with seven rebounds off the bench, while Jaylen Brown also returned from illness, on a night where the Celtics remained without Al Horford due to knee pain.
While the Hawks didn’t put up much resistance, save for the head-scratching stretch of the second quarter, the Celtics were on target all night as they hit 19-of-39 3-pointers. Boston also forced the Hawks into 24 turnovers.
“It’s good spacing and good ball movement,” Hayward said. “Knowing when to be aggressive for individual shots. Knowing when to make the right play. Playing with force too has been helping us out a lot. When we’re spaced pretty well, we’ve got so many guys who can make plays — and so many shooters, too — it’s hard for them to guard everything.”
Boston has scored at least 113 points in every game of the win streak and hit at least 124 points for the sixth time in the eight wins in a row.
“We’re coming out and teams are feeling us,” Morris said. “We’re picking up heavy. Our communication is at an all-time high. Guys are moving the ball. The ball’s not sticking. We’re scoring it, man. We’re playing really well.
“And it’s fun out there. I think you can tell from the outside looking in that guys are buying into what’s going on.”
The Celtics appeared on their way to an early knockout as they hit their first nine shots of the game in building a 23-5 lead. That advantage was extended to 42-19 following a 9-0 run to end the first quarter. Boston was up 24 when Hawks went on a 19-0 run over the next five minutes to close to within 47-42. Three-pointers from Hayward and Morris sparked a 14-5 surge back for a 63-50 lead with 1:14 left in the half before the Celtics hit the break up 67-56.
Order was soon fully restored in the second half as two Irving 3-pointers sparked a 10-0 run to start the half before a Morris 3-pointer made it 80-58 with 9:40 on the clock. Hayward drilled his third 3-pointer for a 108-80 lead with 1:08 left in the third and Stevens was able to go deep into his bench ahead of Saturday night’s game in Detroit.