The Boston Celtics started their Game 6 tilt with the Atlanta Hawks with the intensity and focus of a team trying to close out an opponent on the road, but that waned until the latter half of the game’s fourth quarter, when the Celtics turned up their intensity again to finish off Atlanta 128-120. “I thought our guys did a great job at the end of just locking in,” said Boston head coach Joe Mazzulla postgame (via the Boston Globe’s Adam Himmelsbach).
“They wanted to win,” he added, noting that Boston’s increased tempo played a role in the victory. “Playing fast doesn’t mean helter-skelter … It’s just we got organized really fast, we spaced fast, we found the advantage fast, and made the right play. And then just big-time shots.”
Buy Celtics Tickets“Jaylen (Brown) and Jayson (Tatum), passing with (Marcus) Smart, and Al (Horford) hit two big shots there. So when at the end of the game you can put pressure on the defense by playing with a sense of pace, it can really help you.”
Celtics put the Hawks to bed, advance to Eastern Conference Semifinals with 128-120 Game 6 win https://t.co/Pgm4lYFhGm via @thecelticswire
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) April 28, 2023
Help the Celtics it did, with a potential win-or-go-home Game 7 the alternative that was facing Boston otherwise.
Now, the Celtics will face the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 1 of the 2023 NBA Eastern Conference Finals with homecourt advantage at TD Garden this Monday, May 1 at 7:30 ET.
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