Joe Johnson drops 30 points as the Atlanta Hawks defeat the Boston Celtics 97-92 to move up in the Eastern Conference standings. Home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs within range
On Friday night at the Philips Arena, Atlanta, GA, with the playoff spot secured, the visiting Boston Celtics left some of their major players at home as they took on the Atlanta Hawks.
The Hawks, who came out with their entire arsenal, still had a run for their money as they squeezed out a 97-92. With the win, Atlanta were able to move ahead in the Eastern Conference standings and are just 1.5 games apart from
the C’s.
Joe Johnson led the scoring for Atlanta with a game high 30 points which included 3 triples. Josh Smith ended the game with double-double figures of 19 points and 12 rebounds.
Even though, these two were the only players scoring in double figures for the Hawks, the rest of squad made contributions in small amounts which resulted in 48 points on the night.
With Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen nursing injuries and Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce resting, Avery Bradley was the leading scorer for the undermanned Celtics and he made the most of all the big players sitting out, finishing the
game with 28 points. Keyon Dooling contributed 17 points on the night whereas Brandon Bass chipped in 10. Marquis Daniels came off the bench to contribute 12 points and 8 rebounds in the game.
Atlanta out-rebounded the visitors 41-33. Even though the C`s were dominated on the glass, they scored most of their points from inside the key, getting 44 as compared to the 36 by Hawks.
One of the solid factors in the Hawks win was their overall distribution of the ball as they finished the night with 24 assists. Another strong factor in the win was the Hawks ability to knock down free throws as they shot the
ball 82.4% for the charity stripe.
Inside the first three minutes of the opening period, Boston, were leading by 1 at the score of 7-6. In the next several minutes, Hawks responded with a 10-0 run to take the lead. For the remainder of the first quarter, Atlanta
were able to extend their advantage to double figures and ended it with a 34-27 lead.
In the second quarter, the Hawks pushed their advantage back to double digits and it remained the case for the most part of the period. However by the end of the half, Boston, were able to cut it back down to single figures at
the score of 58-49. Both teams shot the ball above 50% in the first half.
In just about five minutes into the third quarter, Celtics rallied and were able to get back to within 4 points with 7:34 remaining. However the Hawks responded back with an 8-0 run to further put the match out the Celtics reach.
Boston however were not going out easy. They were down by 9 with just a tad above 4 minutes remaining in the third, but closed the quarter out on a 10-4 spurt to make this contest a one possession game at 74-71.
With the momentum on their side, Boston was able to get to within one point very quickly in the fourth. Celtics were able to cut the deficit back to 1 on 5 different occasions in the fourth quarter, the last such occasion coming
with just about 2 and a half minutes remaining in regulation.
The Hawks who had led for most part of the matchup needed to steady their grip in the game. Johnson took this responsibility upon him and scored 5 quick unanswered points to push Atlanta ahead by 92-86.
In the closing stages, Boston, were unable to trigger that significant spark which would have helped them in formulating a comeback. Hawks on the other hand remained steady from the free throw line in the finishing stages and
were able to take this one by a margin of 5 points.
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