Peachtree Hoops: Hawks come soaring back in comeback win vs Celtics

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Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

The largest Atlanta comeback in 27 years took place on Monday night

The Atlanta Hawks produced a 30 point comeback to topple the NBA-leading Boston Celtics 120-118 on Monday night at State Farm Arena.

De’Andre Hunter led the Hawks in scoring with 24 points, and Bogdan Bogdanovic added 22 points. For the Celtics, Jayson Tatum scored 37 points with fellow All-Star Jaylen Brown adding 24 points.

The Celtics — despite the absences of Jrue Holiday and Derrick White — were considerable favorites in this spot heading into the first two games in Atlanta this week. This favor was certainly well warranted as the Celtics opened with a 44-22 first quarter to put themselves in clear ascendency. From outside shooting, to some poor fouling, blow-by’s, and Kristaps Porzingis’ size advantage, the Celtics were just better in every possible facet in the first quarter, three players scoring in double-digits in the first quarter alone (led by Tatum’s 14).

The Hawks only lost further grip on the game in the second quarter as the Celtics — having threatened to do so for so much of the second quarter — finally nudged the gap to 30 points, with seemingly no way back for the hosts against the league’s best team.

When Sam Hauser hit a three to put the Celtics up 74-47 with 1:44 remaining you’d have assumed the Celtics should’ve been able to see out a dominant half, but the groundwork for the Hawks’ comeback began here. The visitors went scoreless during this time while the Hawks put together a 9-0 run to end the half.

A large part of that run came as Clint Capela scored a second chance opportunity after Bogdanovic was blocked at the rim and the ensuing out-of-bounds pass from Porzingis is lazy and intercepted by Bogdanovic who springs into an immediate three and hits:

Murray would sink a shot to cut the Celtics’ lead to 18 at the halftime mark.

The third quarter was where the Hawks wrestled momentum back from the Celtics, whose three-point shooting just dried up in the third quarter, shooting 0-of-9 from deep. Conversely, the Hawks made six threes, three of them coming from the third quarter’s hero Vit Krejci who scored 13 points in the third quarter.

In the time it took the Celtics to score four points the Hawks scored 19 points as part of a 34-10 extended run to close what was a 30 point lead to within three points at 78-75, the crowd now fully reengaged. The Celtics did respond with an 8-0 run, but the Hawks were not fazed and continued to plug away at the Celtics behind balanced scoring.

Celtics head coach Joe Mazzula’s management of his lineup to begin the fourth quarter was poor, as was his hesitance to call a timeout earlier in the third quarter when his lead was slipping away. The Hawks punished the Celtics for it in the second half, and took their first lead with a Wesley Matthews three:

The two sides would exchange baskets for essentially the remainder of the game but here were some of the key plays down the stretch, starting with the shot from Porzingis that was initially ruled a goaltend before the Hawks challenged the call — successfully. Capela is now credited with a vital block:

A reminder that you just have to save your challenge for the fourth quarter (unless you’re certain your first one will succeed). It’s easy for teams to waste them while you’re up or down big but the Hawks keeping hold of their challenge was important here, and they got the call overturned.

Trailing by two points, Dejounte Murray gets a crucial steal as he pokes the ball free from Tatum on the drive, setting up the fastbreak opportunity on which Bogdanovic launches the three to give the Hawks a lead:

After a made basket by Brown, Murray gets himself a favorable switch onto Al Horford and duly drives by the former Hawks big to finish with the reverse layup to give the Hawks the lead again:

Matthews was inserted late in the game for some defense, and his scrappiness on that end was on full display as he makes life difficult for Brown, who misses the jumpshot at the end of the clock:

The Hawks miss their ensuing possession, but it mattered not as Capela secured the rebound and fired the ball out to the perimeter, to safety. Or so he thought, as Hunter — with the shotclock off in a one point game — rises into a three that had Hawks head coach Quin Snyder’s arms outstretched in disbelief but to he and his coaching staff’s relief Hunter hits the three to seal the game:

I can’t imagine it was the shot Snyder would have chosen in this moment, and his response danced around the subject at hand.

“I think it was an instinctive shot,” said Snyder of Hunter’s shot. “I’ve been telling Hunt to hunt threes for a while and he’s done that. He didn’t hesitate, he shot the ball with confidence and I’ve confidence in him. It was a heck of a rebound and Clint had his eyes out and there wasn’t any hesitation in my mind and I think that’s why he made it: he shot it with confidence.”

“My teammates were asking me the same thing,” added Hunter on what was going through his mind when taking the shot. “I told them once CC got the rebound if he passes to me I’m shooting it. He got the rebound, he passed it to me, I shot it.”

Yes, Hunter made the shot. Does that make it a good shot? It’s a well-made shot, but it was a horrible shot to take in this scenario — one that could have easily blown up in the Hawks’ face had he missed. Up one point with 10 seconds remaining with the chance to just hold onto the ball and let the Celtics play the foul game, Hunter risked all the Hawks’ work with that shot. In the end, however, he put the exclamation mark on an all-time franchise comeback.

Snyder credited the fans for their part in the comeback, sticking with the team and launched themselves into the game along with Krejci in the third.

“The way that game started it was really easy if you were in the seats, our fans, they hung in there, as did our team,” said Snyder. “What they did tonight I think is really unique. We’ve talked about our fans and the support they’ve given this team throughout the year. Tonight, the way we started the game, the way Boston started the game, that energy really gave us a lift. It gave us a lift particularly late I thought. Anytime you’re down that much you have to do something out of the ordinary to get back into the game, whatever that is. When you have a group of people that you know are behind you, particularly when they’re behind you, thick or thin, rain or shine. There was a lot of rain early and they were a big part of helping the sun come out.”

“At halftime we talked about never giving up,” added Vit Krejci. “They made some tough shots, we knew we just had to continue to do our stuff and trusting our shots. Shots started falling in the third and we got our confidence and then we were rolling. It felt like everything we were doing was going for us. It was a really good moment and we just have to find a way to feel that way throughout the whole game and not just parts of the game.”

A key to this game was the disparity between halves shooting the ball for the Celtics. In the first half 10-of-23 from three, in the second half they shot 1-of-15. The Hawks hit 11 threes in the second half.

“I think it was a group mentality,” said Hunter. “ We came out of halftime saying we had to limit their threes. I think we did a pretty good job of that.”

When told the Celtics made just one three in the second half, Hunter replied, “Perfect.”

Hunter finished with 24 points on 8-of-14 shooting, a good bounce-back from shooting 4-of-14 the previous game. Vit Krejci tied a career-best 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting and 4-of-7 from three as he continues to impress in his increased role as the Hawks continue to deal with injuries.

“I felt more comfortable,” said Krejci of this third quarter. “Credit to my teammates, they found me open and I was able to knock down some shots.”

When asked by the AJC’s Lauren Williams about Krejci ‘going off,’ Snyder quipped, “Did you say Vit went off? I bet you haven’t said that before! He played really well.”

Snyder was obviously very pleased with Krejci’s performance, but then elaborated further on his improved defensive work, crediting the work done with the College Skyhawks.

“The time he spent in College Park and the work they do down there, there’s been a huge point of emphasis for our group,” said Snyder of Krejci. “We want that (College Park) to be a defensive incubator. He started picking up full court on his own and we were like, ‘Keep doing that.’ He’s moving his feet really well, and then his length and size becomes impactful. Even tonight he was in front of people, sometimes he was getting knocked off, we fouled a couple of times but those are tough matchups. It’s something he’s embraced and taken pride in. We’ve always said if you can defend you can get on the court, it’s because it’s true. He saw a pathway there.”

Krejci also gave credit to the Skyhawks for his defensive improvements and acknowledges Snyder’s sentiments about his defense paving the path for playing time.

“I think my time with the Skyhawks definitely helped,” said Krejci. “They do a really good job there being focused on the defensive end. That really helped me transition from there to the NBA. I know the reason I’m playing is because of my defense, not my offense ... I think it’s just being prepared, just keep working on it. Just being ready.”

There have been some nights where there’s been a big Dejounte Murray game to take the Hawks to victory, others where it’s been a more balanced scoring effort and last night was certainly one of those. 24 for Hunter led the way, Bogdanovic added 22, Murray struggled to shoot the ball but did dish out 15 assists, Capela was a force on the boards (five offensive rebounds) and gave the Celtics problems all night long, Bruno Fernando continued his good work and scored 11 points off the bench, Matthews and Mathews (no relation) came off the bench and were solid in the time they had. This was a real team win, befitting of the comeback that it was.

“Bruno’s emotion stood out for me,” said Snyder when describing the collective effort. “I thought we had a lot of unique efforts. I thought Wes really gave us a lift, a lot of our guys. We felt like we needed to start the third quarter really strong. We actually had a few good defensive possessions in the beginning of the game. We fouled a couple of shooters, lost a couple rebounds and all of a sudden you look up and you’re down 10 in a couple minutes. We hung in there and it’s easy not to hang in there in games like that, particularly against a team that’s as good as Boston.”

“This is the type of game he thrives in,” added Snyder of Matthews. “His physicality, his toughness, his mental toughness, that has an affect on other players as well. It takes everybody’s level up when you see that.”

The Celtics should have absolutely tucked this game away. They allowed complacency to creep in, ended the first half poorly and began the third and fourth quarters really poorly. Had they not suffered those extremes at those timely moments in a game the showed they could bounce-back, but poor management and understanding of those moments really stacked up and it cost them their margin (the end of the first half), their lead (the beginning of the third quarter), and then the win (the start of the fourth quarter).

In what’s been a disappointing season for the Hawks, this will be one of the moments remembered for a while to come. It’s one of those moments that, regardless of what this season has been and what’s to come in April, a 30-point comeback victory is a night you’ll always remember and look back on in future seasons to come.

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