ATLANTA — With timely plays down the stretch, the Hawks nabbed their sixth consecutive win with a 108-92 victory vs. the Celtics Friday at State Farm Arena.
Next up, the Hawks’ five-game homestand will continue when they host the Lakers Sunday.
Below are some takeaways from the win:
— 1. Continuing their red-hot stretch, the Hawks (23-25) have now won six straight games, dating back to the Jan. 17 win vs. the Bucks. The Hawks entered Friday’s game with five consecutive wins, following up that MLK Day win with wins vs. the Timberwolves, Heat, Hornets and Kings. As of Friday evening, Atlanta leapfrogged New York in the Eastern Conference standings, with the Knicks falling to No. 12.
— 2. John Collins made some key plays in the third quarter as the Celtics (25-25) began gaining on the Hawks’ 15-point lead at halftime, but Boston still went on to win that period, 30-18. After a good defensive first half, the Hawks only had a three-point lead heading into the fourth quarter despite Collins’ 10 points in the third. Collins finished with 21 points, nine rebounds and three blocks. The Hawks buckled down defensively in the fourth, slowing down and limiting the Celtics to 15 points in the final period. Overall, that third quarter turned out to be the only blip for the Hawks.
— 3. The bench unit of Delon Wright, Lou Williams, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Danilo Gallinari and Onyeka Okongwu continues to click. That group helped the Hawks to a 14-point lead in the second quarter and showed some mettle to the start the fourth, never yielding the lead even though it got down to a one-point contest. Trae Young (21 points on 8-for-25 shooting, nine rebounds, six assists, two steals, five turnovers) came back in at the 8:20 mark and Bogdanovic hit a 3-pointer to give the Hawks a little breathing toom, 90-84, with 7:43 to play. Young added a layup, Bogdanovic followed it up with a floater, Clint Capela got a block and after a 3-pointer by Young, the momentum of the game had completely pivoted, 97-86 in the Hawks’ favor. The Hawks poured in 46 bench points, getting 19 points, three assists, three rebounds and two steals from Bogdanovic, who finished as a plus-19 in his second game back from injury. Gallinari added 14 points and Williams added eight points and three assists.
— 4. As elite as the Hawks are offensively, and as much as they needed timely buckets to pull away in this game, defense continues to make the difference for them on this win streak. The Hawks tallied a season-high 10 blocks in Friday’s win, adding 10 steals compared to 12 turnovers. They held the Celtics to 25% from the field in the fourth quarter and 35.3% overall, and 19.4% from 3-point range overall.
“I love our defense,” Hawks coach Nate McMillan said. “I love the way we continue to play all 48 minutes with that urgency defensively. Even though they got the game within one, we were able to keep our composure and finish the game.”
— 5. On this hot streak, and in particular the fourth quarter against the Celtics Friday, State Farm Arena and the mood around the Hawks is starting to feel like it did in the second half of last season, when they got hot and surged all the way to the Eastern Conference finals. A rowdy crowd responded as the Hawks battled the Celtics down the stretch, making clutch plays and getting the win instead of fading in the fourth, which was their tendency earlier this season.
— Stat of the game: 28-15 (what the Hawks outscored the Celtics by in the fourth quarter)
— Star of the game: Bogdanovic (made clutch plays down the stretch to help the Hawks pull away when their lead seemed in peril)
— Quotable: “We’re just all bought in and trying to turn this thing around… We knew we’re one of the best offensive teams in the league and we just had to get stops. We knew what we needed to do and we’re doing it right now, so we’ve got to keep it going.” (Young on the Hawks playing better defense on this six-game win streak)
