BOSTON — Al Horford leapt toward half court after a third consecutive Celtics stop inside on Saddiq Bey ended in a loose ball foul on Onyeka Okongwu. He pumped his fist and sent the crowd into a frenzy.
The Celtics forced Atlanta to shoot 1-for-16, starting 0-for-10, from three and 33.3% from the field in a blistering defensive effort. One that sent the Hawks to halftime trailing by 30 points — in case anyone wondered whether they’d take the Hawks seriously.
Quin Snyder almost anticipated the setback. Blowouts happen across seven games, he said before the game, speaking Trae Young through frustrations along the sideline in the ensuing hours. You can always move onto the next game, and while Atlanta found enough offense in the second half to cut its deficit down to 12 points with nine minutes remaining, Brown hit three shots over his next four tries, found Malcolm Brogdon with a dump-off pass and pushed the Celtics back ahead by 20 points on their way to a 112-99 win. Brown scored 29 points through his cut hand, which split open in the first quarter, requiring a new bandage. He’ll reassess it on Sunday.
“It’s a constant adjustment, making sure I get a good grip on the ball,” Brown said. “I had six turnovers tonight, so I’ve definitely gotta clean that up. That’s it. It’s fine, especially with the adrenaline of the game, you just get it going, but at times throughout the game, I had to readjust it and stuff like that. I’ve got a lot of padding on it, so it’s a different feel shooting the ball. Just adjusting and adapting the game, that’s it.”
Brown began the afternoon running ahead of the Hawks’ defense tracking down long outlet passes that went off-target, pulling in one from Horford to score free throws and four early points. After the veteran big man’s call for the Celtics to reach a higher level defensively in the playoffs, he manned the drop while Brown, White and Smart navigated Atlanta’s screens. They shut off Clint Capela, forced Young to start 3-for-13 with four turnovers and when Robert Williams III entered, he swiped a Dejounte Murray layup attempt out of mid-air.
Williams III returned to form and kept the Celtics competitive on the glass against a relentless Hawks pursuit, he launched a pass after grabbing a long rebound to Derrick White, who threw an alley-oop from the wing that Jayson Tatum narrowly missed in one smooth motion. While Williams III appeared fresh, grew involved early and scored 10 first-half points, Brown focused on shooting around the rim as he leaned on his left hand. He exited the game late in the first quarter to treat his hand, but finished the night 12-for-23 with 12 rebounds, three assists and that game-opening steal. Brown shot 9-for-13 in the paint and 3-for-10 on jump shots as he leaned on his left hand to penetrate closer to the rim. Up-and-under moves, short jumpers and transition runs powered his effort.
“I think we were just locked in from the beginning, sense of purpose on both ends,” Tatum said. “It started from the first play, J.B. blew up the D.H.O. and got a steal, it just set the tone and we tried to feed off that. He ain’t talk about (the cut). He looked good, came out aggressive and was obviously playing through it, looked like he felt fine and played really well.”
While Brown took a break midway through the quarter, Williams III stayed involved and snatched the ball from Bey, played in long passing sequences that set up Tatum and White to score, and caught his own alley-oop from Tatum. The Celtics built a double-digit lead they expanded before halftime while the Hawks struggled to generate any quality looks. Smart began a string of flashy defensive plays, knocking the ball away from Jalen Johnson in transition, deflecting a Young pass before making his play of the night in the fourth quarter, blocking De’Andre Hunter from behind and standing stoically on the baseline as the crowd saluted him.
Teammates praised Smart’s rejuvenated defensive effort that set a tone for the team, reading alley-oop plays with his instincts and boxing out physically in ways he couldn’t through injuries earlier in the season. Scoring against Smart and White looked like a chore for Murray and Young, White smacking the ball with a 30-point lead secured because he let Young score one basket by him inside.
The fervor in the building reached its height while the Celtics made multiple rebounding efforts, winning that battle 58-45, Tatum hit a pull-up three and Brown back cut Hunter and caught Smart’s pass to graze the rim with his forehead on a two-handed slam. Nobody knew better what Brown went through, given his own glass-related ordeal in 2018, which only recently healed.
“It’s extremely tough, especially on that shooting hand,” Smart said. “The good thing about us is we get paid a lot of money to come out here and play, and our whole lives we’ve been through adversity. This is just another obstacle for J.B. and he’s gonna own it. He’s not gonna allow that to stop him and he’s not gonna use it as an excuse.”
