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The Boston Celtics came away with a comeback win at the Atlanta Hawks with a scoreline of 113-105 in the NBA Eastern Conference.
The Celtics trailed in the match for most of the night and the Hawks led by 89-83 going into the fourth quarter. But the Celtics rallied to get a great win in the second night of a back to back. Before this win, the Celtics were only 2-5 in the second night of back to backs.
The Celtics have now won three consecutive games after losing three straight road games. This is turning out to be a mixed season for the Celtics who are still not able to strike the right balance.
With the win, the Celtics improved to a 28-18 record and are the 5th ranked team in the Eastern Conference. Meanwhile, the lowly Hawks are the 12th ranked team and have a 14-31 record.
The Celtics host the Miami Heat in their next match while the Hawks will play against the Orlando Magic.
Let's have a look at the hits and the flops from the match:
Flop - Trae Young:
The Atlanta Hawks selected Trae Young as the 5th overall pick in the 2018 NBA draft. The rookie was expected to be a great knock down shooter coming out of college. But Young has really struggled for consistency in his rookie season.
Young has the second most turnovers this season and is also not shooting well from the deep. He finished the game with 16 points on 6-17 shooting from the floor and 2-9 from the 3 point line. He also had 6 turnovers in the match which really hampered the Hawks in this match.
He has been averaging 16 points while shooting 30% from the 3 point line. The Atlanta Hawks will hope that Young improves his shooting and plays with more consistency in the upcoming matches.
Hit - John Collins:
John Collins has really been a pleasant surprise in an otherwise disappointing season for the Hawks. Once again, he performed superbly against the Celtics despite suffering from an illness in the build-up to the match.
Collins scored 15 points and grabbed 11 boards for the Hawks in just 28 minutes of action. He also dished out 3 assists for his teammates. He shot 5-7 from the floor and 4-4 from the FT line and made some crucial baskets for the Hawks which almost gave them a victory.
Collins leads the team in points. He is averaging 19 points and 10.4 boards per game this season and is also shooting an outrageous 58.4% from the field. He has also been able to spread the floor for the Hawks with some great outside shooting. The Hawks will be greatly observing his development in the upcoming years.
Flop - Marcus Smart:
Marcus Smart signed a new contract for the Celtics in this past off-season. This has been a struggling year for the Celtics guard after he played a crucial role in the absence of Kyrie Irving in the last year's playoff run.
Smart was ejected midway in the match against the Hawks after he had an altercation in the third quarter with DeAndre Bembry. Before the incident, he was really struggling to get into the match. He scored only 4 points and shot 1-4 from the field and 0-3 from the 3 point line in 17 minutes of playing time. He also had four fouls at that time.
Smart has been averaging 8 points and 4 assists per game for the season. He was inefficient from the field shooting only 41.3%. He needs to improve his displays in the remaining games of the season as he is still a crucial part of their roster.
Hit - Kyrie Irving:
Kyrie Irving has been on an absolute tear in recent games. After two great games against the Raptors and the Grizzlies, Irving again came up big for the Celtics once again.
The Celtics needed every bit of Irving's magic to come up with a victory in this game. He finished the match with game-high 32 points and 5 assists on 11-19 shooting from the floor, 5-8 from beyond the arc, and 5-5 from the free throw line. He made plays after plays for the Celtics as he has done so often this season and got his team home against the lowly Hawks.
Irving has been averaging 23.4 points per game for the season shooting 50% from the floor. He has been great at closing out games for the Celtics. The Celtics will rely on their superstar to take them deep in the playoffs in a much more competitive Eastern Conference this year.
