Jaylen Brown had 29 points to lead the Celtics to a 112-99 victory over the Hawks in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference first-round matchup on Saturday.
BOSTON — After an opener that went from rout to flirting with catastrophe, the Boston Celtics got both a win and an early reminder of how lulls could spell doom in the playoffs.
“We expect to get their best shot,” Brown said. “We let them get a little more comfortable in the second half, so I expect the next game for them to be a little more prepared. So we’ve got to be a little more prepared as well.” The No. 2-seeded Celtics led by as many as 32 points, pouncing on an Atlanta team that missed its first 10 3-point attempts and shot 5 of 29 from beyond the arc for the game.Atlanta used a 32-12 run to cut the deficit to 96-84 on a three-point play by Bogdan Bogdanovic early in the fourth.
Despite Atlanta’s late push, the Celtics sizzled from all points on the floor, connecting on 13 3 pointers. Young missed his first six shots beyond the arc and was 5 of 18 from the field. Murray was 10 of 25 from the floor.In a move to match Atlanta’s speed, Boston went small, starting White instead of big man Robert Williams in a lineup alongside Al Horford, Tatum, Brown and Smart.Young had an especially rough start. He had a pass the first possession of the game stolen by Brown and had his first field goal attempt blocked by White on the way to missing his first six shots.
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