On Friday night, the Atlanta Hawks avoided the dreaded 3-0 series deficit by achieving a 130-122 win over the Boston Celtics in Game 3. No team has returned after losing the first three games of a playoff series in NBA history. While the odds are still against Trae Young’s squad, hope remains.
The Celtics got off to a hot start, scoring 37 points in the opening quarter. It took a 41-point period from the Hawks in the second quarter to manufacture some momentum going in their favor, resulting in a 74-67 lead at the break. After the break, Atlanta outscored Boston by just a single point.
It took some serious firepower from the Hawks overall to overcome the Celtics’ hot night after turning it over 18 times. Atlanta shot a staggering 51-91 (56.0 percent) from the floor, 15-34 (44.1 percent) from 3-point range, and 13-16 (81.3 percent) on free throws. It was a frequent display of impressive shotmaking from a team with their backs against the wall.
“They made some tough shots, as we knew they would,” Celtics guard Marcus Smart said. “They’re back in front of their crowd, they’re back home. Get that little extra boost when you’re back home. So we’ve just gotta do a better job of continuing to make things tough on them. You tip your hat off and move on to the next one.”
NBA NEWS & PLAYOFFS: Trae Young, Dejounte Murray, Atlanta Hawks & Boston Celtics Updates
The Hawks’ star backcourt set the tone in a major way. Young finished with 32 points, six rebounds, and nine assists, but most importantly, did so while shooting 12-22 from the floor and 6-6 from the free throw line. Murray added an efficient 25 points, six rebounds, and five assists. Atlanta went from struggling to operate in ball screen actions to start the series to generating 1.151 points per possession on 53 ball-handler possessions in Game 3.
“Guards are supposed to be able to control the game, and we consider ourselves two pretty good guards,” Young said of the Hawks’ backcourt controlling the game. “We have to be able to control the games when we have leads.”
The Hawks’ backcourt did its best work in the second half. Young scored 22 points, with 15 occurring in the final period. Meanwhile, Murray scored 16 after the break, too. As Young stated, the Hawks’ backcourt managed to answer back against the Celtics to prevent them from making a game-changing run in the second half.
“At one point, I was just like, I should just keep quiet and let them do it,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said. “They had some isolation situations where they created for themselves and for other guys, and a lot of that was them just figuring it out. People feed off that.”
NBA NEWS & PLAYOFFS: Trae Young, Dejounte Murray, Atlanta Hawks & Boston Celtics Updates
Both guards are working through a tough matchup in their first-ever playoff series together as a backcourt pairing. The way they responded in Game 3 was a pivotal showing of resolve after a rough two games. Young, in particular, had produced terrible results as the head of the Hawks’ attack, averaging 20.0 points and 7.0 assists on .350/.231/.692 shooting splits and 5.0 turnovers per game.
“I don’t want to talk about Boston a lot but I look at Jayson (Tatum) and Jaylen (Brown) a lot, two guys who were going through it a lot, just to get to the level they’re at,” Murray said. “Great things don’t happen overnight. Great things take time.”
NBA NEWS & PLAYOFFS: Trae Young, Dejounte Murray, Atlanta Hawks & Boston Celtics Updates
While it remains unlikely for the Hawks to pull off a series victory against the Celtics at this point, it would have been impossible to do so had they fallen 3-0 in the series. If they can win Game 4 on their home floor, it becomes a real series and a great sign of the team’s development with a star backcourt.
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