Hawks hold off late rally from Celtics to close out season series

The Boston Celtics were back on the road for the second night of a back-to-back, traveling to Atlanta to close out their season series with the Hawks after defeating the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday. Boston just defeated Atlanta this past fFriday at home, but on the second straight night, they could not get the job done in enemy territory.

A poor third quarter outing created the gap for Atlanta, while the Celtics struggled with their shooting in the third frame and couldn’t recover in the fourth. There was a strong push from Boston in the final frame, but it would be too little, too late, as they fall to 50-25 on the season, starting a busy week on the road with a loss.

Here’s a quick recap of Boston’s loss to the Hawks on Monday night:

Final score: Atlanta Hawks 112, Boston Celtics 102

Keys to the game:

Poor third quarter: Boston was outscored by 14 points in the third quarter, as they couldn’t get anything done from the floor. It was their lowest scoring quarter of the game with just 22 points, which was an unfortunate downfall as the two teams kept pace with one another throughout the first half of the game.

Atlanta’s offense in the paint: There was no Neemias Queta or Jayson Tatum available for the Celtics in this game, and it showed as Atlanta outscored them 48-30 in the paint. The team lacked plenty of size without Tatum and Queta, with Luka Garza drawing the start at center and Jaylen Brown ending the game as the team’s leading rebounder with 10 on the night.

Lack of support behind Jaylen Brown: Speaking of Brown, it was him and very little support behind him without Tatum and Queta in the lineup. Luka Garza was the second-leading scorer with 20 points and Payton Pritchard had 16 points, as they were the only three players to hit double figures in the loss.

Highlight of the game: Dyson Daniels has big alley-oop in third quarter over Derrick White