Jayson Tatum bagged 29 points as the Boston Celtics defeated the Atlanta Hawks 119-106 to take a 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference NBA playoff series on Tuesday.
The second-seeded Celtics, 112-99 victors over Atlanta in game one, overcame a slow start to dominate the seventh-seeded Hawks for a comfortable victory at Boston’s TD Garden.
“Playoffs are all about adjustments, trying to move on from game-to-game, seeing what you can do better — and I think we played better,” Tatum said afterwards.
“We want to be peaking at this time of year. Everybody’s healthy, playing the right way, playing really well — but we’ve got another level we can go to hopefully.”
Atlanta started well, jumping out to a 22-11 lead in the first quarter before Boston’s offense clicked to give the Celtics a 28-25 lead heading into the second quarter.
Once in front, the Celtics never relinquished the advantage, opening up a 61-49 half-time lead and extending that to 20 points midway through the third quarter as Boston’s defense shut down Atlanta’s scoring.
Atlanta rallied to get within eight points of the Celtics in the fourth quarter, but Boston never looked like squandering their lead down the stretch and pulled away convincingly to ensure they will take a 2-0 lead into game three in Atlanta on Friday.
Tatum finished with 29 points including five three-pointers, while Derrick White provided offensive support with 26 points and Jaylen Brown added 18 points.
Dejounte Murray led Atlanta’s scorers with 29 points while Trae Young finished with 24.
It was a rough night for Young, who went nine from 22 from the field and had five turnovers.
The 24-year-old was ruthlessly mocked as “overrated” by the Boston crowd just hours after being voted by his peers a the league’s most overrated player in an anonymous poll published by The Athletic.
Tatum meanwhile said Boston — rated favourites to win the title — will be ready for an Atlanta backlash in game three on Friday.
“We’ve got to be that much more together, more focused, more locked in. Playing on the road is tough, especially in the playoffs,” Tatum said. “But it’s going to be fun — we’re looking forward to it.”
GARLAND GETS CAVS BACK LEVEL
Meanwhile, Darius Garland delivered a 32-point gem in Cleveland’s series-leveling rout of the New York Knicks.
Cavaliers roared back into their best-of-seven series with the Knicks to score a 107-90 win Beaten 101-97 in game one on Saturday, the Cavaliers bounced back in spectacular fashion to score a blowout victory.
Cleveland opened up a 25-22 first quarter lead and never looked back, outscoring Cleveland 34-17 in the second quarter to take a decisive grip on the contest.
New York failed to get within 15 points of the Cavs throughout the second half, as Cleveland powered on to lead by as many as 29 midway through the fourth quarter.
Cleveland point guard Garland produced a sparkling display with 32 points — 26 of them in a devastating first-half scoring burst.
Caris LeVert added 24 off the bench while Donovan Mitchell added 17 points with 13 assists.
The Knicks offense meanwhile failed to fire, with the team’s 90-point total their second lowest tally of the season.
Julius Randle finished with 22 points while Jalen Brunson added 20. Game three of the series takes place at Madison Square Garden in New York on Friday
