“…and starring Kent Bazemore as Neo, in…”
We’ve got a rematch of top versus bottom tonight, as the Boston Celtics return to The Highlight Factory (7:30 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, NBC Sports Boston) riding a 14-game win streak, putting up with your Atlanta Hawks once more.
Despite some valiant efforts versus decent competition recently, plus a franchise-record 46-point trouncing of the Kings at home this past week, the Hawks (3-12) are holding up the opposite end of the Eastern Conference from Boston (14-2). Still, there’s an understated yet obvious reason why Atlanta will want to pull up their big-boy short-shorts for this specific contest.
You remember when Al Horford made himself one of four Players of the Month, the Hawks quartet plus DeMarre and Thabo, and Pero and Dennis, banding together to go 17-0 back in January 2015, briefly turning the entire NBA world on its ear? That shouldn’t be like some GEICO ad, where it’s so easy even Aron Baynes can do it. Yet Al Jefe is about to pull off a similar feat, this time with Kyrie Irving and the “Ohh! Jays” (Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum) at his side, and tonight is #10 on the Celtics’ 16-game November schedule.
Boston can become the seventh NBA club, since the implementation of the 82-game schedule back in the late 1960s, to go at least 16-0 on an undefeated calendar month (In addition to January 2015, Hawks head coach Mike Budenholzer had a hand as an assistant/video coordinator in two other unbeaten campaigns, the March 1996 and March 2014 Spurs). Wouldn’t it make a cool story for your bros if it was the present-day Hawks that finally tripped these Celtics up?
But for Kyrie (35 points, 12 in the 4th quarter, 7 assists) revving up The Highlight Factory machine back on November 6, Tatum’s 21-and-8, and Horford bothering to rebound to near a triple-double (15-10-9 with one turnover), there would be no talk of the prospects for an unbeaten month. Boston led that game for just 50 seconds more than Atlanta, who was ahead by two at the two-minute mark before Irving and Tatum’s heroics.
The slim, 3-point winning margin for Boston had as much to do with superb play by Hawks reserve gunner Marco Belinelli (19 points, 3 steals) and starting pivot Dewayne Dedmon (19 points, 12 boards), supplementing Dennis Schröder’s 23 points, as anything the Celtics did.
As grand as Brad Stevens’ club has been in this surge to the top of the standings, as a team, they are shooting 42.7 percent from the field on the season, and their opponents are shooting 42.8 percent. Their 47.1 2FG% ranks 26th in the league, and their 34.6 3FG% ranks 24th.
Night after night, the Celts are getting it done by getting opponent out of their offensive comfort zones (NBA-best 42.8 opponent FG%), without excessive fouling (20.3 opponent FT attempts/game, 10th-fewest in NBA), securing defensive rebounds (81.6 D-Reb%, 2nd in NBA, yes; this is with Al), keeping the giveaways down (13.2 TO%, 4th-lowest in NBA), and adding a dash of that tried-and-true leprechaun magic (73.5 opponent FT%, 3rd-lowest in NBA).
Despite all the superheated scoring this league has offered of late, here are Boston opponents’ point tallies during this 14 game streak: 92, 89, 89, 90, 94, 86, 94, 88, 107, 96, 87, 94, 102, 88. Atlanta’s 110-107 loss on November 6 was the clear anomaly; Kyrie’s game looked gargantuan because it had to be. But Hawks fans should anticipate a gritty, low-scoring affair tonight. Atlanta may go into this game without Luke Babbitt (questionable due to back spasms), but they will have more defensive reinforcements and frontcourt depth than they had 12 days ago.
Despite leading a balanced attack with 21 points, Schröder was not particularly a standout during Wednesday’s washout of the Kings, also committing five turnovers. But he was able to feast on Sacramento’s lax defensive effort, something he won’t be afforded versus Boston (NBA-best 95.4 D-Rating) tonight.
Dennis will again enjoy being defensively switched off Irving, but he must produce defensive stops against the alternative guards on the floor, be they Terry Rozier (31.9 3FG%) or Marcus Smart (16.5 TO%, highest among Celtic guards; 26.2 3FG%). Big minutes will be needed from Atlanta’s floor leader, as Isaiah Taylor (eye bruise from practice on Friday) is unavailable, while Malcolm Delaney has looked infinitely more comfortable at the 2-spot.
Irving will be assigned to a murder of Hawks, including not only Kent Bazemore and Taurean Prince, at turns, but also possibly DeAndre’ Bembry, the second-year wing who has missed time with a wrist injury. Because winning, Kyrie is being touted as an MVP candidate despite shooting a career-low 42.9 FG%, including 31.9 3FG%.
Jaylen Brown (team-high 22 points on Thursday vs. GSW) returns to town with a heavy heart. He will continue playing inspired ball following the passing of his longtime best friend from Marietta’s Wheeler High just days ago.
Brown and the Boston starters need a stronger effort from their bench brigade than they received in Thursday’s 92-88 win over Golden State. Not counting garbage minutes from Daniel Theis, four Celtic reserves shot 2-for-19 from the field, which wasn’t of much help for the hounded Irving (4-for-16 FGs). Smart, Rozier, rookie Semi Ojeleye and Baynes need to be more than mere defensive stoppers if the Celtics intend to keep their distance from the Hawks tonight.
Another big game could earn Dedmon (20 points, 14 rebounds, 5 asssits, 2 steals, 2 blocks) some nice also-ran votes for Player of the Week. To offset Horford and the Celtics’ frontline, Dedmon, the surprising Tyler Cavanaugh and gravity-defying John Collins will benefit from a deeper frontcourt rotation, as Ersan Ilyasova and the man-bunless Mike Muscala are back in tow.
Coming off a titanic win at The Gahden over the defending NBA champs, the Celtics return to Atlanta as sky-high as they’ve felt in a long time. Wouldn’t it be a little bit funny if it was the Hawks that popped their balloon?
Let’s Go Hawks!
~lw3
