Atlanta Hawks Game Preview: Home Contest vs. Celtics

A preview of the Atlanta Hawks tilt against the Boston Celtics tonight at State Farm Arena.

The Atlanta Hawks face off against the Boston Celtics tonight in Atlanta, and the home team will be looking to exact some revenge on the Bostonians after a shellacking in Beantown on December 14th.

The Celtics came out red hot and managed to shoot 48 percent from the field, 48 percent from three-point territory and 90 percent from the free throw line as a team. As Larry David would say: Pretty, pretty, pretty good.

As usual, Kyrie Irving led all scorers with 24 points and put on his usual dribbling clinic against the Hawks, as he always seems to relish bashing in the team’s collective skull.

Similarly, Marcus Morris (and both Morris twins really) loves to get up versus the Hawks and he poured in 20 points on a stupendously efficient 7 of 12 shooting. In that same vein, Gordon Hayward had one of his most efficient scoring nights of the season against the Atlanta Hawks by notching 19 points on 7 of 10 shooting and a +21 on/off rating in only 18 minutes of playing time.

Jayson Tatum logged 22 points and Daniel Theis notched 18 off the bench as the C’s rolled Atlanta by a final margin of 129 to 108.

The Atlanta Hawks were led in scoring by Kevin Huerter (lovingly known as Red Pepper), who had one of his best games of the year with 19 efficient points on only 7 of 10 shooting (5 of 8 from distance). Both John Collins and Trae Young were limited in these two teams’ last meeting by the defensive versatility of the Celtics.

Especially JC who had to contend with the Timelord, Robert Williams, in the frontcourt, who had erased shots at the rim with ease – logging 5 memorable blocks in only 16 minutes of playing time.

The Atlanta Hawks’ trio of young players have put up terrific performances in recent games and will likely be looking for some revenge against the C’s tonight. Tip-off is slated for 7:30 p.m. EST.