After a come from behind win at Milwaukee on Sunday, the Celtics return home for the 2nd of 3 games against the Atlanta Hawks. The Celtics easily won their first meeting 123-93 in Atlanta on November 4. They will meet one more time in Boston on January 18. The Celtics are 246-148 overall all time against the Hawks and 132-44 in games played in Boston.
The Hawks have been off since Saturday and after this game, won’t play again until Friday when they will play the Wizards at home. They should be well rested, although they will also be short handed. They will then head out on a 4 game road trip through Portland, Sacramento, Golden State and Chicago. The will then face the Mavericks at home and then have a home and home set against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Celtics are playing in the first half of back to back games. They will play at Brooklyn on Wednesday. This is their second back to back set, having won both halves against the Hornets in the first one. After Brooklyn on Wednesday, the Celtics will host Toronto and then Cleveland before a game on the road in Washington. They will return home for games against the Timberwolves and the Clippers.
The Celtics may be without some key players in this game. Jayson Tatum rolled his ankle on what should have been a Flagrant 1 on Giannis Antetokounmpo but remained in the game. He is questionable for this game. Al Horford is questionable for this game due to a left big toe sprain. He will likely miss this game and play on Wednesday against the Nets. Jaden Springer is questionable with a knee injury. Kristaps Porzingis remains out as he rehabs from ankle surgery. I’m not sure who will start if Tatum and Horford are both out. I’m thinking that Tatum will play and that Queta will start in Horford’s place.
The Hawks will be very short handed with 7 players on the injury list. Vit Krejci is out with a right adductor injury. Bogdan Bogdanovic is out after a medical procedure to fix his right hamstring tendinopathy. Kobe Bufkin is recovering from a shoulder subluxation and is also out. Seth Lundy (ankle), De’Andre Hunter (knee), and Cody Zeller (personal) are all out as well. Trae Young is also out due to right Achilles tendinitis. I’m just taking a wild guess that Keaton Wallace will fill in for Young in the starting lineup.
Probable Celtics Starters
Celtics Reserves
Payton Pritchard
Baylor Scheierman
Xavier Tillman, Sr
Jordan Walsh
Sam Hauser
Luke Kornet
2 Way Players
JD Davison
Drew Peterson
Anton Watson
Injuries/Out
Kristaps Porzingis (ankle) out
Jaden Springer (knee) questionable
Jayson Tatum (ankle) questionable
Al Horford (toe) questionable
Head Coach
Joe Mazzulla
Probable Hawks Starters
Hawks Reserves
Mouhamed Gueye
Garrison Mathews
Onyeka Okongwu
Larry Nance, Jr
David Roddy
2 Way Players
Dominick Barlow
Seth Lundy
Keaton Wallace
Injuries/Out
Bogdan Bogdanovic (hamstring) out
Kobe Bufkin (shoulder) out
Vit Kretjci (thigh) out
Seth Lundy (ankle) out
De’Andre Hunter (knee) out
Cody Zeller (personal) out
Trae Young (Achilles) out
Head Coach
Quin Snyder
Key Matchups
Jayson Tatum vs Jalen Johnson
Johnson is averaging 19 points, 10.4 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 1.4 steals per game. He is shooting 45.1% from the field and 30.2% from beyond the arc. In the first game against Boston, Johnson finished with 20 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 steal while shooting 35% from the field and 28.6% on threes. Tatum may be out for this one and if so, whoever starts here needs to defend Johnson very well as he will likely be their best player.
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Jaylen Brown
Photo by Kent Smith/NBAE via Getty Images
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Zaccharie Risacher
Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images
Jaylen Brown vs Zaccharie Risacher
The number one pick in the draft has been starting due to an injury to De’Andre Hunter and he has been up and down in his play so far. He is averaging 12 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1 block per game. He is shooting 37.9% from the field and 25.3% from beyond the arc. Against the Celtics in the first game against Boston, he finished with 15 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists while shooting 40% from the field and 16.7% on threes.
Honorable Mention
Derrick White vs Dyson Daniels
Daniels is averaging 12.4 points, 4 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 3 steals per game. He is shooting 45% from the field and 27.8% from beyond the arc. In the first game against the Celtics, he finished with 8 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, and 1 steal while shooting 44.4% from the field and didn’t hit a 3 pointer. Jaylen Brown is on his second game back from a hip injury and hopefully will be back to full strength in this one.
Keys to the Game
Defense – Defense is always the key to winning games. The Celtics have a defensive rating of 108.7 which is 5th while the Hawks have a defensive rating of 117.6, which is 26th. Against the Bucks, the Celtics allowed 69 points in the first half before clamping on defense to hole them to 38 points in the second half. The Celtics must make defense a priority in this game and they have to play that tough defense for 48 minutes and not just when they are down and their backs are against the wall. The Celtics need to especially guard the paint as the Hawks are 4th in the league with 53.8 points in the paint per game.
Rebound – Next to defense, rebounding is a key to winning. Much of rebounding is effort and desire. When the Celtics put out the extra effort on the boards, it usually carries through to the rest of their game. The Hawks are averaging 42.5 rebounds per game (20th) while the Celtics are averaging 45.3 rebounds per game (16th). The Celtics have not been rebounding as well as they did last season and they need to aggressively go after every rebound. They can’t afford to give the Hawks extra possessions and 2nd chance points by allowing them to beat them to rebounds.
Effort and Ball Movement – The Celtics have started the past couple of games very slowly and ended up in a hole. They then had to turn up the effort and double down on defense down the stretch in order to squeak out a win. The Celtics have to move the ball and not play hero ball. They also need to play with maximum effort for 48 minutes and not allow the Hawks to build a lead or if the Celtics build a lead, they need to keep it and not allow the Hawks to come back. They have to get back to playing hard right from the beginning and move the ball throughout the game and not just when they are behind and desperate.
Depth – With both teams likely missing key players for this game, team depth will definitely come in to play. Payton Pritchard has brought energy and efficient scoring off the bench and the Celtics need him to continue. Sam Hauser has struggled since missing time with back soreness and hopefully he can get back on track. The Celtics also need their back up bigs to pick up their games to fill in for missing players.
X-Factors
Home Court– They call it home court advantage for a reason and the Celtics need to take advantage of playing on their home court. The Celtics need to get motivation from the home crowd, which should be loud and doing everything in their power to support the Celtics and rattle the Hawks. The Hawks have the distractions of travel and an unfamiliar arena and a hostile crowd and hopefully that will give the Celtics an advantage.
Officiating – Officiating is always an x-factor. Every crew calls the game a little differently with some calling it tight and others letting them play. Some refs just make head scratching calls while others try very hard to get them right. Sometimes they are tech crazy for every little thing. In some games they call the 2 halves completely differently. The Celtics have to adjust to how the game is being called and focus on playing the game and not on the officiating.
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