Boston Celtics vs. Atlanta Hawks preview
Hawks welcome Celtics at Philips Arena, Atlanta, with a hope to stamp a home victory this time. While on the other hand, after nasty performances in the previous two games the Celtics are likely to come out concentrated and fully equipped against the Atlanta
Hawks. The host (Hawks) had the advantage of crowd support.
Preview
The Celtics (9-4) had a tough time coming off consecutive defeats for the first time all season. They seemed to be determined to avoid their fifth straight loss to the Hawks.
In the two consecutive losses, Celtics lost one against Oklahoma City Thunders, 89–84 at Philips Arena, Atlanta. Although Thunder were short-handed, even then Russell Westbrook took charge of the team and led the Thunder with 31 points and 6 assists, as
his team was missing All-Star Kevin Durant, and forward Jeff Green, both of whom sat out with ankle injuries.
In the previous match, Boston had its second consecutive defeat against Toronto Raptors with a single point 102–101 at Air Canada Centre, Toronto. Andrea Bargnani led the Raptors with 29 points and Amir Johnson contributed 17 points and 11 rebounds.
Although Robinson headed Celtics with 20 points, all in vain as Raptors defeated them in front of their home crowd.
Beside all sincere efforts Hawks (8-5) had a tough time on their home floor, as they had trouble scoring. They are averaging 98.3 points compared to 104.5 on the road. They have four of five losses at Philips Arena.
If we bypass the previous two games the Hawks have played, it is 50–50 situation, where one match was lost and one won.
Hawks had a great time at Conseco Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, an ddefeated Indiana Pacers by 102 – 92 on their home ground. Josh Smith had 25 points, eight rebounds, and seven blocks and Mike Bibby added 16 points and seven assists as the Atlanta Hawks pulled
away.
Bu the Dallas Mavericks trounced the Hawks in the presence of their home crowd in Atlanta. Dallas built a lead of 18 points in the second quarter, and 16 in the middle of the third half. Later former Hawk Jason Terry and Dirk Nowitzki individually hit a
pair of free throws in the final 13 seconds of the game to help the Mavs hang on for a win over the host Hawks.
Players to Watch
Celtics’ small forward/shooting guard, Paul Pierce, leads the team in scoring with 20.5 points per game. In addition, he is averaging 23.7 in Atlanta over his career. Point guard Rajon Rondo is averaging an NBA-best 14.3 assists. Nate Robinson had a great
time after replacing Rondo in the starting line-up and scored a season-high 22 points.
Hawks Center, Power Forward Al Horford scored 20 points. Additionally he pulled down 20 rebounds against the Mavericks for the second 20-20 game of his career. He is scoring a career-best 17.4 points per game this season. He has been limited to 10.1 over
his previous eight games against Boston.
Numbers
Hawks had a 101.2 percent average points scoring record as compared to 100.8 at Boston’s end. However, Boston, has surrendered 106.3 points per game in its previous three road games.
The Hawks had a very poor home record 5-1, while on the other hand Boston’s home record is 3-4.
Tags: