Winners of their play-in match against the Heat last Tuesday, the Hawks were attacking their 2023 playoff campaign with a perilous trip to Massachusetts and it did not go as imagined.
Quickly put out of harm’s way by Boston this Saturday evening, the players ofAtlanta took on water in the first half, to the point of counting up to… 32 units behind! A real basketball porridge offered by the teammates of Trae Young (16 points, 8 assists), overdue on each side of the floor.
” You can’t be trailing by that many points and expect to win. », estimated afterthought the All-Star point guard. ” But in the second half, we fought and we were aggressive. We will try to reproduce it in the second game. »
As highlighted by Trae Young therefore, the only positive point of the evening concerns the fact that the Hawks showed a much better face after returning from the locker room, recovering up to -12. But we should not delude ourselves either: the Celtics have relaxed over the minutes, given the adversity that was facing them.
” We arrived not really ready in the first half “, confirmed afterwards Dejounte Murray (24 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals). ” We weren’t really fighting, we weren’t focused like we should have been, like in training. But it’s okay, the series is long and we were in the second half ourselves. »
A sentiment shared by Quin Snyderthe Atlanta coach, who reminds us that this is only one game and that there are a maximum of six more to try to reverse the trend and shake up this formation of Boston that is much too easy on the ground.
” They played well, they were the most aggressive in many areas of play in the first half. We need to understand that there are two halves, four quarters and seven games. The mental toughness it takes to win a series in this league is huge. “, he declared thus.
A class away from Boston
Nevertheless, the Hawks, conference finalists two years ago, disappointed in Game 1 and their weaknesses were exposed for all to see by Celtics in control of their game and sure of their strengths. Without energy, without intensity, without reaction for too long minutes, Trae Young, Dejounte Murray, John Collins and others were therefore able to measure the gap which currently separated them from the second best team in the East.
” Collectively we need to do a better job of not letting them get so many shots. We have to stay in front of our player and not give up easy layups summed up the leader, in relation to the notion of defense.
As for John Collins, who insists on the word ” will when he speaks precisely of the defensive aspect, he also regretted not having seen the ball come sufficiently inside in attack…
” This benefits us to attack ‘mismatches’ and get easy baskets “Judged the strong winger, author of 12 points at 5/7 to shoot. ” But sometimes the game doesn’t turn out that way. I wish it was, but I can’t really dwell on it too much. In any case, involving everyone and getting easy baskets makes the whole attack more fluid. »
The bad news for Atlanta is that the Celtics don’t seem too worried about their second-half release. In other words, what the Georgian franchise intended to capitalize on for Game 2…
” I’m not worried at all “, tempered Joe Mazzulla, in the opposite camp. ” This team has played very well all season, these are things that will happen. It’s good that we were able to go through it, we had to feel it, it’s important that we learn from that. »
| Shots | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | bp | Int | CT | party | Points |
| Trae Young | 73 | 34.8 | 42.9 | 33.5 | 88.6 | 0.8 | 2.2 | 3.0 | 10.2 | 4.1 | 1.1 | 0.1 | 1.4 | 26.2 |
| Dejounte Murray | 74 | 36.4 | 46.4 | 34.4 | 83.2 | 0.7 | 4.5 | 5.3 | 6.1 | 2.2 | 1.5 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 20.5 |
| De’Andre Hunter | 67 | 31.7 | 46.1 | 35.0 | 82.6 | 0.7 | 3.6 | 4.2 | 1.4 | 1.2 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 3.0 | 15.4 |
| Bogdan Bogdanovic | 54 | 27.9 | 44.7 | 40.6 | 83.1 | 0.4 | 2.6 | 3.1 | 2.8 | 1.2 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 1.6 | 14.0 |
| John Collins | 71 | 30.0 | 50.8 | 29.2 | 80.3 | 1.1 | 5.4 | 6.5 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 0.6 | 1.0 | 3.1 | 13.1 |
| Clint Capela | 65 | 26.6 | 65.3 | 0.0 | 60.3 | 4.0 | 7.1 | 11.0 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 1.2 | 2.1 | 12.0 |
| Saddiq Bey | 25 | 25.1 | 47.0 | 40.0 | 86.2 | 1.6 | 3.2 | 4.8 | 1.4 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 1.5 | 11.6 |
| Onyeka Okongwu | 80 | 23.1 | 63.8 | 30.8 | 78.1 | 2.7 | 4.5 | 7.2 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 1.3 | 3.1 | 9.9 |
| Aj Griffin, Jr. | 72 | 19.5 | 46.5 | 39.0 | 89.4 | 0.5 | 1.6 | 2.1 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 8.9 |
| Jalen Johnson | 70 | 14.9 | 49.1 | 28.8 | 62.8 | 0.7 | 3.3 | 4.0 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 1.6 | 5.6 |
| Garrison Mathews | 9 | 9.4 | 41.9 | 40.0 | 87.5 | 0.1 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 4.8 |
| Justin Holiday | 28 | 14.7 | 38.4 | 34.5 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 1.3 | 4.5 |
| Jarrett Culver | 10 | 13.7 | 39.5 | 8.3 | 69.2 | 1.0 | 2.8 | 3.8 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 1.4 | 4.4 |
| Aaron Holiday | 63 | 13.4 | 41.8 | 40.9 | 84.4 | 0.4 | 0.8 | 1.2 | 1.4 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 3.9 |
| Bruno Fernando | 8 | 5.2 | 57.9 | 0.0 | 83.3 | 0.8 | 1.1 | 1.9 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 0.8 | 3.4 |
| Frank Kaminsky | 26 | 6.8 | 56.8 | 47.8 | 83.3 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 2.7 |
| Trent Forrest | 23 | 12.0 | 41.7 | 0.0 | 66.7 | 0.2 | 1.4 | 1.6 | 1.7 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 2.3 |
| Donovan Williams | 2 | 2.1 | 40.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 |
| Tyrese Martin | 16 | 4.1 | 39.1 | 14.3 | 100.0 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 1.3 |
| Vit Krejci | 29 | 5.7 | 40.5 | 23.8 | 50.0 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.6 | 1.2 |
