There was only one game on Thursday night in the 2023 NBA Playoffs with the NFL draft going on, but it was a good one in Atlanta between the Hawks and Boston Celtics. While the Hawks continued to show an improved offensive touch at home, they lost 128-120, ending the series in six games.
High Scoring Again
Slow starts and bad offense plagued the Hawks in the first two games of this series in Boston when it looked like we might see a sweep. But Atlanta did a much better job at home, and the Hawks were able to score at least 119 points in the last four games against Boston’s vaunted defense.
Game 6 was no exception with 15 lead changes and some close, high-scoring quarters with a 35-34 edge in the first, 33-33 tie in the second, and Atlanta won the third quarter 33-30.
Trae Young finished with a 30-point game, though it did not come efficiently at all as he shot 9-of-28 from the field, including 4-for-12 from three. De’Andre Hunter pitched in 20 points, but the Hawks also missed 5 free throws compared to the Celtics, who shot 16-of-17 at the charity stripe. After being suspended in Game 5, Dejounte Murray returned but only scored 14 points on 5-of-13 shooting. He did have 11 assists to lead the team.
The stars for Boston came through with Jayson Tatum (30 points and 14 rebounds) and Jaylen Brown (32 points and 6-of-8 from three) both scoring 30-plus points on over 50% shooting. Marcus Smart also had 22 points, including some key buckets down the stretch. Boston also protected the ball well with just 7 turnovers on the road.
The Pivotal Fourth Quarter
This was a very close game throughout, and the Hawks led 113-110 with less than half a quarter to play. But that was when the Celtics went on an 11-0 run with Brown, Al Horford, and Tatum all making a three. Murray answered with a three of his own for Atlanta to make the bleeding stop at 121-116, but that was when Smart took over and made a three and a layup.
Bogdan Bogdanovic was fouled on a 3-point attempt, but he missed 2-of-3 at the line. The Celtics knocked the ball out of bounds, leading to a rare, hilarious sequence where the Hawks kept failing to inbound the ball from the sideline with Young throwing it off of Smart multiple times to reset.
This happened multiple times before Young was replaced by Hunter, who promptly threw the ball out of bounds on a turnover after the Hawks had four chances to get the ball in with a 6-point deficit.
The Hawks had FOUR chances to inbound the ball, then decided to throw it out of bounds ? pic.twitter.com/IUIy705ILs
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) April 28, 2023
When do you ever see that kind of struggle to get the ball in? Boston’s persistent pressure on the inbounder paid off beautifully. Smart iced the game with two more free throws for the 128-120 win.
Next, the Celtics will play the 76ers in a highly-anticipated second-round series. The Hawks have been eliminated in the first round for the second season in a row.
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