ATLANTA — Hours before Game 6, sitting courtside Thursday morning at State Farm Arena, Marcus Smart quickly processed the Celtics’ Game 5 debacle. The point guard said the Celtics played not to lose. It forced them to take an extra flight to Atlanta. But the C’s had another chance.
This time, they didn’t let it slip.
Two nights after they suffered a catastrophic meltdown, the Celtics didn’t make the mistakes twice. For a fourth consecutive game, the Hawks gave them all they could handle. Trae Young started hot, but he and the Hawks faded late. The Celtics, finally, put their foot on the gas and went for the kill. They emerged with a 128-120 victory in Game 6.
It took a few more nights than it should have, but the Celtics survived the Hawks and advanced into the second round, where they’ll face the rival 76ers. Game 1 is set for Monday night at TD Garden.
Jaylen Brown scored 32 points, Jayson Tatum had 30 and Marcus Smart added 22 – and all of them came up big down the stretch. After a back-and-forth game for 42 minutes, the Celtics created the separation they needed with an 11-0 run. Unlike Tuesday, when they lost their poise, the Celtics delivered when it mattered.
The Celtics trailed by one midway through the fourth when Marcus Smart had a brutal stretch. He turned the ball over, and the Hawks capitalized as Trae Young hit Clint Capela for an alley-oop. Then the Hawks dared Smart to shoot from deep on back-to-back possessions and he missed both attempts, which forced Joe Mazzulla to take him out in favor of Grant Williams for a few possessions.
On the ensuing possession, Brown drilled a triple to tie the game at 113 with 4:50 left.
The game, which lacked defense for most of the night, turned into an offensive struggle before Smart found Al Horford for a go-ahead triple from the wing with 3:35 to go. On the next Hawks chance, they won a jump ball before Trae Young rattled out a 3-pointer. Then, Tatum hit a step-back 3-pointer to make it 119-113. Jaylen Brown then blocked Dejounte Murray’s layup attempt. On the Celtics’ next possession, Horford missed a wide-open corner 3-pointer but Tatum was there for a thunderous one-handed putback dunk.
It was 121-116 after a Murray 3-pointer when Brown drove and spun through the lane before finding a wide-open Smart, who drilled a 3-pointer to put the Celtics up eight with 1:31 to go.
De’Andre Hunter followed with a 3-pointer to make it 124-119 but Smart responded with a wide-open layup.
Other takeaways from the victory:
– The Celtics looked ready to potentially make a game-changing run to end the third quarter, after they scored five consecutive points – Grant Williams 3-pointer, Malcolm Brogdon floater – to take a 98-94 lead. But then the Hawks continued to dominate the offensive glass. They ended the period on a 6-0 run, which included putbacks from De’Andre Hunter and Onyeka Okongwu.
The Hawks finished with 24 second-chance points, but only three in the fourth quarter as the Celtics closed the win.
– The Celtics’ lack of defensive effort and focus – at least to begin the game – could be summed up during a brutal stretch early in the third quarter. Soon after the Hawks scored five points on one possession thanks to three Celtics fouls – which included a Flagrant 1 on Al Horford on a three-point play for Young – Tatum made a pair of free throws that cut the Celtics’ deficit to two. But then an inexcusable sequence ensued. Somehow, Dejounte Murray got behind the Celtics’ defense after Tatum’s second free throw on a fast break and completed a three-point play.
– At the end of Game 5, Marcus Smart admitted that Trae Young got too comfortable, which helped give him the confidence to drill the game-winning 3-pointer that forced Game 6.
Thursday, the theme continued early. Young scored 18 points in the first quarter, engineering the Hawks out of an early deficit and giving them and their Atlanta crowd life as they surged ahead. Young struggled in Games 1 and 2 in Boston, but has operated with a different kind of swagger since, as he continued to take and hit several tough shots.
– Smart admitted Thursday that the Celtics “played not to lose” in Game 5, which led to their stunning meltdown. In Game 6, the point guard did his best to reverse the narrative. He set the tone in the opening minutes on both ends, logging a pair of offensive rebounds, one steal, a couple of assists and a 3-pointer that pushed the Celtics to an early 12-2 lead.
– That lead didn’t last long. The Celtics have done well in stretches limiting the Hawks’ offensive rebound and second-chance points. But it got away from them in the first quarter, as they allowed five offensive rebounds and eight second-chance points that allowed the Hawks to storm back and take a lead.