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Atlanta Hawks (8-7) at Boston Celtics (12-4)
Sunday, November26, 2023
6:00 PM ET
Regular Season Game #17, Home Game #7
TV: NBCSB, BSSE-ATL, NBA-LP
Radio: Rock 92.9, WZGC, Sirius XM
TD Garden
Probable Starting Matchups
Point Guard
vs
Jrue Holiday vs Trae Young
Shooting Guard 
vs
Derrick White vs DeJounte Murray
Small Forward 
vs
Jaylen Brown vs De'Andre Hunter
Power Forward 
vs
Jayson Tatum vs Jalen Johnson
Center 
vs
Al Horford vs Clint Capela
Celtics ReservesDelano Banton
Oshae Brissett
Sam Hauser
Al Horford
Luke Kornet
Svi Mykhailiuk
Payton Pritchard
Lamar Stevens
Jordan Walsh
2 Way PlayersJD Davison
Nathan Knight
Neemias Queta
Injuries/OutKristaps Porzingis (calf) out
Jrue Holiday (ankle) questionable
Head CoachJoe Mazzulla
Hawks Reserves Saddiq Bey
Bogdan Bogdanovic
Bruno Fernando
AJ Griffin
Garrison Matthews
Wesley Matthews
Patty Mills
Onyeka Okongwu
2 Way PlayersTrent Forrest
Seth Lundy
Miles Norris
Injuries/Out Kobe Bufkin (thumb) out
Mouhammed Gueye (back) out
Jalen Johnson (wrist) questionable
Head Coach Quin Snyder
Game Notes The Celtics host the Atlanta Hawks for the first of 4 meetings this season. They will meet a second time in Boston on February 7 and they will meet twice more in Atlanta on March 25 and March 28. Boston won the series 3-0 last season, winning twice in Atlanta and once in Boston. The Celtics also beat them 4 games to 2 in the first round of the playoffs last season.
The Celtics are still 1st in the East, even after their loss to the Magic on Friday. They are 1 game ahead of Orlando, Milwaukee, and Philadelphia. The Celtics are 6-0 at home and 11-3 against Eastern Conference teams. They are 7-3 in their last 10 games and are coming off a loss. The Hawks are 9th in the East and 3.5 games back of Boston. They are 5-2 on the road and 6-6 against Eastern teams. They are 5-5 in their last 10 games and are coming off 2 straight wins.
The Celtics are playing in the 1st game of a 7 game home stand. The home stand will be interrupted by the In Season Tournament from 12/1 when they play Philadelphia until they play the Cavaliers on 12/12. They will then play Cleveland a second time and the Magic twice at home before heading out on a 4 game Western road trip through Golden State, Sacramento, the Clippers and Lakers.
The Hawks are playing on the second night of back to back games. They played at Washington on Saturday and then had to travel overnight to get to Boston. They are playing in the second game of a 5 game road trip. They are 2-0 so far, beating the Nets and the Wizards. After the Celtics they will go on to play Cleveland, San Antonio and Milwaukee before returning home.
The Celtics will be without Kristaps Porzingis, who strained his calf in the second quarter of Friday's game against the Magic. I expect Al Horford to start at center in his place. Jrue Holiday is listed as questionable with an ankle sprain. I'm guessing that if he can't play, Derrick White will slide over to the point and Jaylen Brown will play the 2 Guard while Sam Hauser starts at small forward. For the Hawks, Kobe Bufkin (thumb) and Mouhammed Gueye (back) are both out. Jalen Johnson left Saturday's game with a wrist injury and did not return. He is questionable for this game.
Key Matchups vs
Jrue Holiday vs Trae Young
Young is averaging 26.0 points, 2.6 rebounds, 10.7 assists and 1.7 steals per game. He is shooting 38.8% from the field and 34.3% from beyond the arc. I'm hoping that Jrue can play, but if not, Derrick White should be matched up with Young at the point. The Celtics will have their hands full trying to slow him down and keep him from having a big game.
vs
Derrick White vs DeJounte Murray
Murray is averaging 21.6 points, 4.4 rebounds, 5.6 assists and 1.5 steals per game. He is shooting 47.5% from the field and 41.0% from beyond the arc. Murray is also one of the Hawks best defenders. Once again, if Jrue Holiday is out, Jaylen Brown will likely be the shooting guard for the Celtics. The Celtics will need to work hard on both ends of the court to get the better of this matchup.
Honorable MentionAl Horford vs Clint Capela
Capela is averaging 10.7 points, 9.9 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks per game. He is shooting 62.7% from the field and has not shot any 3's as yet. With Porzingis out, Al Horford will be tasked with keeping Capela off the boards and out of the paint.
Keys to the Game Defense - Defense is always a key to winning games. Defense is especially important for the Celtics in this game because the Hawks are a good scoring team, averaging 124.1 points per game, which is 2nd in the league. The Celtics are 8th, averaging 116.0 points per game. The Celtics have a defensive rating of 107.8 which is 4th while the Hawks have a defensive rating of 118.2, which is 25th. The Celtics must make defense a priority in this game and they have to play that tough defense for 48 minutes and not let up. The Celtics played good defense in the first half against the Magic but then allowed way too many easy scores in the second half.
Rebound - Next to defense, rebounding is a key to winning. Much of rebounding is effort and desire. When the Celtics put out the extra effort on the boards, it usually carries through to the rest of their game. The Hawks are averaging 44.8 rebounds per game (12th) while the Celtics are averaging 46.1 rebounds per game (5th). The Hawks are 9th with 15.5 second chance points per game. The Magic had 21 second chance points to just 6 for the Celtics in their last game. The Celtics need to aggressively go after every rebound. They can't afford to give the Hawks extra possessions by allowing them to grab rebounds.
Stay Focused - The Celtics need to come in focused and stay focused throughout the game. They need to focus on their shots and shot selection. They need to focus on making their free throws as they missed 10 free throws against the Magic. They need to focus on playing defense and making the right switches. They need to focus on making good passes and not turning the ball over as the Hawks average 18.9 points off turnovers per game. And they need to focus on sharing the ball and making the right play. Lack of focus results in those horrible shooting nights and high turnover games and they can't afford either of those in this game.
Energy and Physicality - The Celtics have lost 4 games so far to teams that played with more energy than they did. The Celtics have to be the team that plays harder and with more energy. When they play against physical teams like the Magic, they seem to wilt. They need to be more physical to counter the physicality of their opponents. The Celtics have talent, but they can't afford to allow team to play harder and with more energy than them.
X-Factors Home Court- They call it home court advantage for a reason and the Celtics need to take advantage of playing on their home court. The Celtics need to get motivation from the home crowd, which should be loud and doing everything in their power to support the Celtics and rattle the Hawks.
Rest vs Fatigue - The Celtics have been off since Friday and are at home. The Hawks played on Saturday night in Washington and are playing in back to back games and had to travel overnight to get to Boston. Fatigue may become a problem for them. The Celtics will be missing Kristaps Porzingis and possibly Jrue Holiday and so they will be short handed and that may lead to fatigue if the starters have to play more minutes.
Officiating - Officiating is always an x-factor. Every crew calls the game a little differently with some calling it tight and others letting them play. Some refs just make head scratching calls while others try very hard to get them right. Sometimes they are tech crazy for every little thing. In some games they call the 2 halves completely differently. The Celtics have to adjust to how the game is being called and focus on playing the game and not on the bad calls or no calls.
Topic: Hawks (8-7) at Celtics (12-4) Game #17 11/24/23 (Read 11486 times)