Rajon Rondo powered up a triple-double with 20 assists, 10 points and 10 rebounds as the Boston Celtics edge out Atlanta Hawks 88 – 86 in overtime ..
On Wednesday night at the TD Garden, Boston, MA, the Boston Celtics in their back-to-back game, coming in from an emotional win against the Miami Heat, narrowly held on to defeat the Atlanta Hawks 88-86 in overtime.
Kevin Garnett, who fouled out of the game in overtime, was the leading scorer for the Celtics with 22 points. Bass followed him up with 21 points. Paul Pierce, who had scored only 4 points in the first quarter, got into a shooting
rhythm late to end the night with 14 points.
Rajon Rondo though was the star performer. He had a triple double performance with 10 points, 10 rebounds and a staggering 20 assists, making this his 19th straight game in which he has reached double-digits for assists.
Jeff Teague was leading scorer for the Hawks by scoring 21 points. Josh Smith added 20 points where as Joe Johnson and Zaza Pachulia contributed 14 and 13 points respectively.
Atlanta started the game of very well as they race to a 10-4 lead in the early stages of the first quarter. The lead was extended to as much as 7 points and the Hawks were ahead by 5 with 1:45 minutes remaining. Boston however
closed out the quarter on a 6-0 run, with 4 coming from Bass and 2 from Rondo to take the lead 26-25.
In early stages of the second, the score was tied at 34 with 7:54 to go in the half. In the next several minutes, the Hawks squeezed out a minor advantage to get ahead by 3 with 2:46 remaining. Boston had sprinted late in the last
quarter to take the lead, but this time it was the other way around, as Atlanta closed the half on a 5-0 run to get ahead by 8 at the halfway mark.
The Hawks led for the entire duration of third quarter. However the Celtics were able to rally their way back into the contest as they ended the third period on a 4-0 run to make the contest a 1 point differential, Hawks leading
68-67.
In the fourth quarter, Celtics scored 5 quick points, all of them coming from the hand of Mickael Pietrus, to get ahead by 4 points. The next few possessions saw some lousy display of basketball as both sides committed a lot of
turnovers.
The Hawks, led by Teague`s 5 consecutive points, were able to tie the scores at 73. Both sides traded baskets but were unable to get that significant burst to grasp the game. Boston held a 2 point lead, in the closing stages but
Johnson made a jump shot to tie the scores at 84 to send this one to overtime.
In the extra period, Celtics scored 4 consecutive points to get ahead 88-84. Hinrich answered back with a jump shot to make it a one possession game. However the last 2 minutes were extremely cagy and in the end neither side managed
to score, giving Boston the win.
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