The Atlanta Hawks needed to clamp down on defense and let it fly from deep to have a chance against the Boston Celtics in Game 2 of their first round series of the 2023 Eastern Conference Playoffs. And for much of the first quarter, they did — until the Celtics found their footing late in the frame, that is. Despite shooting far less than league average from 3 early, Boston locked up the Hawks on one end and took it to the rack on the other, slowly digging out of the 11-point hole Atlanta put them in to lead by as much as 20.
The Celtics started the third quarter better than they typically have, but Atlanta made their shots while Boston got just a tad careless and let the Hawks cut the lead to single digits going into the final frame.
