Tonight the Celtics absolutely dominated the Hawks 114-96. This is really the type of game that the team needed. They came out strong in the first quarter and never looked back. Things got shaky at times but Atlanta never got within ten points of the Celtics. For the C’s, it was Aron Baynes who led the way scoring 16 points and pulling down 9 boards. The stat sheet looks a bit unusual tonight because of the small amount of minutes that the stars had to play. No one even played more than 25 minutes for Boston which is really important seeing how they’ll play tomorrow night in Dallas. My favorite thing about this game was that they didn’t get lit up by someone who had no business doing so. I had a sneaking suspicion going in that Trae Young could do them in but it didn’t turn out that way. Young finished with 5 points on 2-7 shooting and was a -35. Three things to be thankful for tonight are: the first quarter, Aron Baynes, and some quality time to get things right.
Hitting the Ground Running
After a few weeks of starting slow the Celtics may have played their best quarter of the season. The C’s scored 45 points in the first quarter alone to jump out to a 22 point lead over Atlanta. Kyrie was red hot to start the game hitting three threes in the quarter and really looking like he could go for a huge game. Thinking about it, the whole team was pretty much on fire to start. They shot 16-25 and 8-12 from deep in the first. To put that in perspective, they only made five more threes for the rest of the game. Not only were they great on the offensive end, but they held the Hawks to only 23 points in the quarter. Don’t get me wrong, Atlanta isn’t anywhere near a team that should cause the C’s problems, but this was still a good sight to see. I wrote about how the Celtics couldn’t seem to piece together their good play on both ends. Well, we got to see it tonight. It was really important for the team to come out as hot as they did following that dreadful loss to the Knicks. Boston made a statement right away and set the tone for the rest of the game.
All of Australia
It’s kind of weird to look at the box score and see that Aron Baynes was the guy who led the Celtics in scoring. The only other time that I recall this was against the Lakers last season when he had a monster game. So far this season I’d been a bit down on Baynes to be honest. He seemed like he wasn’t finding his game right and was playing almost confused. The Australian big man had a really efficient game against Atlanta because of his shot selection. Baynes went 5-7 from the field and made the only three that he took. It’s great that he can shoot from outside, but it shouldn’t be his main source of offense. Baynes takes 4.5 shots each game. On average, two of those shots are threes. He shouldn’t be taking nearly half of his shots from the outside. We got to see him play a bit more from the post tonight because of the absence of Al Horford. When Horford gets back, I’d like to see them continue to use Baynes low and maybe have Al be more of a high post presence. Don’t get me wrong, I think Horford is great from the block, and I think he should hold it down when he’s not on the floor with Baynes. But, to get the most out of Baynes I think Horford should assume more of a perimeter role.
Nothing Like Some Good Ol’ “Garbage” Time
Everyone can admit that they get some enjoyment out of garbage time minutes. I’d say that’s mostly because of the feeling of being stress free while watching the Celtics, which is quite the rare occasion. There’s more to it though. First off, it serves as time for deep bench prospects to see the floor. Robert Williams got nine minutes tonight and had a solid showing. Four points for the big man on two dunks. This next reason is why I put garbage in quotations in the header. It can serve as time for struggling guys to get it right. If you were to go back and watch tonight’s game again, you’d see that Jaylen Brown got some extra minutes late in the game. Brad was letting him go out and find his form without the pressure of a close game. We got to see a good showing from Jaylen tonight, 10 points on 4-7 shooting. Once again, he made every shot that wasn’t a three. Sooner or later it’s all going to click for him and he’s going to get himself all kinds of inside shots. Another player who got some extra time tonight was Semi Ojeleye. He finished with 8 points on 3-11 shooting. You may be thinking, “Why is he talking about Semi if he wasn’t very efficient?” Well, the last purpose of garbage time is the freedom to experiment. Usually when the Celtics are “playing for real,” Semi just kind of spots up in the corner and shoots a three once in a while. Tonight we got to see Ojeleye be aggressive and try and score in different ways. Garbage time is a beautiful thing and I hope we get our fair share this season.
Tomorrow the Celtics will head to Dallas to take on the Mavericks. They’re 8-9 on the season and sit 12th in the west.
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