The Boston Celtics and Atlanta Hawks are currently on opposite sides of the play-in tournament bracket. Boston is in seventh place in the Eastern Conference with a 31-25 record as of Friday morning, and they are a game behind the Toronto Raptors. Meanwhile, the Atlanta Hawks are two games under .500 and only have a one-game lead on Washington for the final postseason berth. With just one week left to go before the All-Star Break, both teams are looking to better their playoff position.
Atlanta Hawks at Boston Celtics
When: Sunday, February 13, 2022, 2 p.m. ET
Where: TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts
TV: ABC
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Boston has won six straight games coming into the team’s Friday night showdown with Denver. The Celtics are finally playing good basketball after treading water for much of the season, but they have not looked good against Atlanta. They are 0-2 against the Hawks this season with both of those losses coming by double digits. Additionally, Boston failed to score at least 100 points in each of the defeats.
Fortunately, Atlanta has been bad on the road this season. The Hawks are currently 10-16 away from home. They were 17-25 overall last month, but they used a long homestand to run off seven straight wins and beat Phoenix last week. Their only two road wins since January 1 came against Sacramento and Charlotte.
What to Watch
The Celtics are still holding out hope that they can challenge in the East with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. These have been seen as two of the top young talents in the league for the last five years, but Boston failed to get out of the first round last year. Still, the Celtics have made it to the Eastern Conference Finals in three of the last five years, so it’s hard to discount Tatum and Brown as a tandem.
Tatum is averaging 25.5 PPG and 8.4 RPG for Boston. He is also doling out a decent amount of assists for a frontcourt player, but he hasn’t been as efficient of a shooter as the Celtics were hoping he would develop into at this point in his career. Tatum is making just 32.8% of his threes, and he is way too likely to try and shoot from the perimeter rather than driving the paint to get buckets.
Brown has been a more efficient shooter, making 46.1% of his field goals and 34.9% of his threes. He is the second leading scorer on the Celtics with 23.9 PPG, and he does a good job crashing the boards for a guard with 6.5 RPG. Brown is asked to do a lot for this team as Dennis Schroder hasn’t been too effective, and Marcus Smart is not great on offense. Atlanta ranks eighth in scoring offense but 24th in scoring defense. The Hawks have not been able to force a lot of turnovers on defense, and that has hurt them in many of their losses.
Trae Young is averaging 27.8 PPG and 9.3 APG as one of the most dangerous guards in the league. Young has proven the naysayers wrong over the course of his short career, and he gets to the free throw line with regularity. He has made an effort to improve on defense too, giving Young more value than other players of his ilk.
Atlanta Hawks at Boston Celtics Free Pick
If the Hawks are going to pull off the upset, they need to hit a lot of threes. Atlanta’s top five scorers are all making at least 36.3% of their threes, forcing opponents to always respect the perimeter. Their defense will keep them from winning this game though as Brown and Tatum will both have at least 25 points.
Hawks at Celtics Best Bet: Boston Celtics
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