Atlanta Hawks Blowout Boston Celtics 114-98

The Atlanta Hawks convincingly defeated the Boston Celtics on Monday night 114-98. How’d they manage to right the ship against one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference?

That’s the Atlanta Hawks team fans in Atlanta know and love. The Hawks ended their three-game losing streak on Monday by thumping the Boston Celtics 114-98. It was a surprising win, but perhaps it shouldn’t have been.

That’s who the Atlanta Hawks are this season. They can lose back-to-back games to teams with records under .500 and then beat one of the best teams in the NBA. This is becoming the norm. The wild swings in quality on a night to night basis have made for an exciting, and sometimes frustrating, season.

More from Soaring Down South

• Start, Bench, Cut: Sorting through the Hawks’ power forward options
• Hawks’ Bogdan Bogdanovic reacts to earning FIBA World Cup championship bid
• When does training camp start for the Atlanta Hawks?
• Grade the trade: Hawks deal Trae Young to Clippers in shocking proposal
• Dejounte Murray rips NBA 2K after Atlanta Hawks ratings reveal

Atlanta’s offense showed a return to form, as did their stifling defense. Boston shot just 39.1 percent from the field and 29.4 percent from three-point range. Celtics leading scorer Isaiah Thomas scored 19 points, but he did it on 4-for-21 shooting. Dennis Schroder made bothering Thomas his personal mission.

Atlanta crushed Boston on the glass, winning the rebounding battle 55 to 40. Dwight Howard made Al Horford‘s life extremely difficult through the first three quarters.

Howard finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds in just 27 minutes. Howard was ejected from the game in the third quarter after receiving two technical fouls.

The first technical came when Howard shoved Horford after a particularly hard foul by the former Hawk. The second technical came when Howard yanked on the rim after at thunderous dunk.

The NBA later admitted that Howard’s dunk should have resulted in an non-unsportsmanlike technical and no ejection.

Nevertheless, Howard still apologized to his teammates for the ejection. This according to Chris Vivlamore’s recap in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

"“I apologized to the guys,” Howard said. “I have to do a better job of keeping my composure. And they understood. … I have to do a better job of after I get one trying to scale back. I was just trying to be aggressive and try to send a message. I apologized to the team for that mistake. I’ll continue to be as aggressive as I can.”"

Horford had a rough night offensively. He finished with six points, six rebounds, and five assists on 3-for-9 shooting. Howard’s size created issues for Horford on both ends of the court. Overall, Boston’s entire starting lineup struggled on offense.

Thomas was the only Celtic starter to score in double figures. He did get some help from the bench. Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown had 16 points and 15 points respectively. Avery Bradley had six points on 2-for-4 shooting in his first game since Jan. 18.

It was a physical game from the beginning. These are two teams that seem to truly dislike each other. That shouldn’t be a surprise after last season’s heated playoff series. The only thing that was a surprise is that Howard’s brief skirmish with Horford was the only incident of the night. I’m sure there was plenty of trash talk to go around to make up for the lack of physical confrontations.

Dennis Schroder led the Hawks in scoring. His personal rivalry with Isaiah Thomas seemed to provide him with a boost of motivation. Schroder was outstanding. He got to the rim, knocked down midrange jumpers off the dribble, and controlled the flow of the game for Atlanta.

He finished with 21 points, five assists, and four rebounds on 9-for-14 shooting, while also bothering the heck out of Thomas on defense. Schroder’s confidence is back and it couldn’t have returned at a better time. Also from Vivlamore’s recap, Schroder spoke about how the Hawks played angry.

"“I think that everybody was a little (ticked) off because of the last two games,” Schroder said. “Everybody played together. I came back in the starting lineup and everybody was on the same page from the start.”"

An angry Dennis Schroder is a productive Dennis Schroder. The Celtics learned that the hard way. Each Hawk that started scored in double figures. Paul Millsap had 17 points and 10 rebounds after a tough start to his night. Thabo Sefolosha scored 12 points and hit a pair of three-pointers in his return to the starting lineup. Kent Bazemore had 15 points on 7-for-13 shooting.

Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 10 points in his return to a bench role. The scoring boost he provided early in the fourth quarter helped the Hawks put their lead out of reach. Of course, the thing I’m most excited about is the extended Taurean Prince minutes.

Prince played 30 minutes, scoring eight points and grabbing 12 rebounds on 3-for-9 shooting. His shooting line isn’t pretty, but Prince had a huge impact on the game. His effort and aggressiveness helped set the tone for the Hawks. This guy is going to be really good as his development progresses.

It was a balanced offensive effort reminiscent of Atlanta’s January resurgence, rather than their February swoon.

The Hawks return home for six straight games starting Wednesday night against the Dallas Mavericks. The home-stand also includes meetings with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Golden State Warriors, and Toronto Raptors.

Next: Should The Hawks Have Rebuilt At The Trade Deadline?

The playoff race is heating up. This should be fun.