The Hawks fed off the energy of the crowd at State Farm Arena and delivered some strong play on both sides of the ball. With a 130-122 win Friday night, the Hawks gained ground and now trail 2-1 in the series against the Celtics in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Here are five observations:
1. The Hawks needed a big outing from Trae Young and the 24-year-old gave them what they needed. Young made 35% of his shots from the field and 23% on 3-pointers in the first two games of the series.
In 37 minutes, he scored 32 points, had six rebounds, nine assists, two blocks and one steal.
Out of a timeout with 8:22 to play, Celtics guard Marcus Smart hit a jumper to cut the lead to two. But Young fired off a pair of midrange jumpers, then made a layup that pushed the Hawks’ lead back up to seven. Though the Celtics pulled the game within two again with just over two minutes to play, Young’s 15 points in the fourth period gave the Hawks enough juice to get the win.
2. Young had plenty of help from backcourt partner Dejounte Murray, who chipped in 25 points, six rebounds, five assists and one steal. The Hawks duo has struggled throughout the season to find the right spark that could make them the “pick your poison” duo many expected them to be.
They found it in Game 3 as the two meshed as expected with both making the right reads on and off the ball and playing with the spacing coach Quin Snyder has been looking for. Young and Murray combined to go 23-of-43 by the end of the night and Snyder praised them for their leadership.
“Even though they had some isolation situations where they created for themselves and for other guys, and they got space,” Snyder said. “And I think that was a lot of them, just figuring stuff out and talking to one another, and guys, people feed off that. Those two, they’re making plays and making plays for each other. And I think that’s when we’re going to be playing our best basketball.”
The two guards are the first pair of Hawks teammates to both put up at least 25 points, five rebounds and five assists in the same playoff game since Lenny Wilkens and Bill Bridges in 1966.
3. Before the game, Snyder talked of the importance of the Hawks shutting down the paint. After giving up 54 points inside last Saturday and another 64 on Tuesday, Snyder said they needed to stay aggressively to limit the Celtics.
The Hawks gave up 40 points in the paint and forced the Celtics to take their shots from outside. In the first quarter alone, the Celtics made nine 3s on 16 attempts but the Hawks began to slow them down from outside as each quarter progressed.
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
4. Since Saddiq Bey had the hot hand, he played the entire fourth quarter. In the team’s usual rotation, it subbed out Bey for starting power forward John Collins. But that was not the case as the team kept the 23-year-old forward in following his 3-pointer that put the Hawks up 105-101 with 9:11 in the game.
Bey needed some time to find his shot in his first career postseason, going 1-of-7 from 3 in the first two games. He hit all three of his attempts from deep, ending the night with 15 points, eight rebounds and two assists.
“I think for me, it’s being ready,” Bey said. “If it’s open and shoot it, I trust in 1000s of hours. Put it in and so that’s just how a shooter lives.”
He along with the rest of the “Bench Mob” built off what worked in the regular season to sustain the production when the starters took their rest. The Hawks’ bench outscored the Celtics’ second unit 44-35 and Atlanta had seven players in double figures, tied for their most in a playoff game all-time.
5. The Hawks knew they needed to take care of home court and used the crowd to their advantage. Fans in attendance at State Farm Arena brought the energy, including some boos and jeers when Celtics guard and former Greater Atlanta Christian Spartan Malcolm Brogdan touched the ball.
Brogdon told reporters at the Celtics shootaround Friday that fans in the city of Atlanta haven’t been the most dedicated. Fans did not like it and at one point chanted “We don’t claim him” when Brogdon stepped to the free-throw line.
“It felt like we was in Atlanta,” Murray said. “It felt like we had the whole city, the fanbase behind us.”
Stat to know
3 - Onyeka Okongwu had three blocked shots in a playoff game, matching what Clint Capela did on July 1, 2021.
Quotable
“Well, philosophically, I want us to make every shot. So that didn’t change. " -- Quin Snyder on if his philosophy changed after the first two games
Up next
The Hawks host the Celtics for Game 4 at State Farm Arena on Sunday at 7 p.m.
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