Hawks have poor third quarter, lose to Celtics 107-98

The Atlanta Hawks were on the road tonight to take on the Boston Celtics. The last time these two teams played, the Celtics were able to take the victory after being down going into halftime. The Celtics came out victorious again, defeating the Hawks 107-98.

Both teams started the game off slow, but things began to pick up for the Hawks midway through the quarter. Young got it going, scoring 11 points in the quarter before leaving with an ankle injury.

The Hawks benefited heavily from the Celtics getting in foul trouble, and they led 28-19 heading into the second quarter. Bogdan Bogdanovic was big for the Hawks during that period, scoring eight points in the quarter.

Despite a slow start and being without Young for the first half of the second quarter, the Hawks caught fire from three and extended their lead to 16 points.

Young was able to return and though he looked somewhat hobbled, he was still able to make plays on offense.

Young scored another 11 points for the Hawks in the second, finishing with 22 points going into halftime. The Hawks led 65-51.

It was a completely different Hawks team coming into the third quarter, as the Celtics went on a 12-0 run and the Hawks had eight empty possessions in a row. The Hawks made a few timely buckets, but the Celtics were still able to grab the lead at one point, as it was their first lead since the score was 14-11.

Jayson Tatum was big for the Celtics during their run, hitting shot after shot and making it hard for the Hawks on defense. It was an uninspiring quarter for the Hawks, as they were outscored 31-13, and the Celtics took an 82-78 lead heading into the fourth.

The Celtics continued to roll in the fourth, and the Hawks still didn’t have an answer for Tatum. The offense was still lackluster in the second half, as they only had 10 points in the quarter with 3:09 remaining. It was definitely a disappointing second half, and it was similar to when they played the Celtics two weeks ago.

Young finished with 29 points, and Bogdanovic finished with 25 points.

The Hawks will be back home on Thursday to take on the Chicago Bulls.