C’s Drop Game 1 To Hawks By 1

After falling behind early in the first half, the Celtics battled back, giving the Hawks their best shot, but ultimately fell to Atlanta by one point, 102-101.

Atlanta started the game off hot and really ran away with the first two quarters of play. After one quarter, the Hawks were up 11 and by halftime they were up 17, as they brought a 51-34 lead into the locker room.

To their credit, though, the C's refused to quit. They could have packed it in and quit on the second half, but instead they showed the grit they've possessed all year and they pushed Atlanta to the brink.

While the Hawks doubled up their first half point total in the second half, Boston stepped on the gas pedal, over the last two quarters, dropping 67 second half points.

Boston's hot second half came up just short of a miraculous comeback, however, as the Hawks proved to be just too much to handle once again for Brad Stevens' team.

Looking at the major factors in the loss a couple of things stand out. For one, Atlanta controlled the paint all night long, as they outscored Boston by 16 points down low. The C's also got hit with a lot of penalties on the night, as they finished the game with 12 more personal fouls than the Hawks. While the C's shot a better percentage from the free throw line than the Hawks, Boston's 19 attempts (16 makes) were not as many as Atlanta's 27 points from the line (on 35 attempts).

When looking at what went right for the C's in this game 1 loss, it was a classic case of what the team has done well all season long; play defense. Boston held the home team to just 40.7% shooting from the field and 18.5% from three point range. That's something they had done against most teams this year, but had failed to do against Atlanta in four regular season match ups. Boston also did a good job holding onto the ball, though they did have a couple of costly turnovers late in the game. On the night, they finished with 10 turnovers and a plus one differential in the turnover battle. They'll need to continue to limit mistakes with the ball and win the turnover battle to be able to win games in the series, as Atlanta will most likely shoot a higher percentage from the field as the series moves on.

One last negative, which might be the biggest hit the C's took all night was the loss of guard Avery Bradley to a hamstring injury. Bradley pulled up lame, early in the fourth quarter, and did not return to the game. He had 18 points up to that point and finished the night as the C's second leading scorer behind Isaiah Thomas, who poured in a game high 27 overall.

All in all, the loss is a tough break for the C's, especially after they battled back from a big early deficit and came up just one point short. They do have positives to take away from the game, however, and have things to build on for the rest of the series. The loss of Bradley was costly late in the game, tonight, but if he is out for an extended period of time that could really do the Celtics in. Having him on the court is a huge piece of how Boston plays on both sides of the court.

Game 2 is set for Tuesday night at 7:00 p.m.

Here's a look at the box score.