The Celtics had another entertaining postseason tuneup on Sunday afternoon, but the reserves couldn't hold on down the stretch as the Hawks pulled out a 112-106 win behind a career-high 33 points from Taurean Prince.
The Celtics regulars looked sharp over the first three quarters with Jayson Tatum (19 points) leading six different players in double figures before watching from the sidelines in the fourth quarter. Semi Ojeleye had a career-high 13 points off the bench and was 3-of-3 from 3-point range, solidifying himself as a likely rotation option for Brad Stevens this postseason. Meanwhile, Jabari Bird saw some regular minutes in the rotation over Abdel Nader in place of a resting Marcus Morris. With a potential postseason roster spot on the line, Bird strengthened his case to be signed with nine points and five rebounds in 21 minutes, outplaying Nader (zero points in 10 minutes).
The loss will have no impact on the playoff seedings for the C's, while the win could be a bit damaging for the Hawks with their lottery odds with just two games remaining in the regular season.
GAME: No. 80 of 82
WHO: Celtics (54-25) vs. Hawks (23-57)
WHEN: 1:00 p.m.
WHERE: TD Garden
RADIO: 98.5 The Sports Hub
TV: NBC Sports Boston
Celtics
PG: Terry Rozier
SG: Jaylen Brown
SF: Jayson Tatum
PF: Al Horford
C: Aron Baynes
Hawks
PG: Isaiah Taylor
SG: DeAndre Bembry
F: Taurean Prince
F: John Collins
C: DeWayne Dedmon
First Half Notes
- Celtics' full rotation was intact for this half, outside of Marcus Morris getting some scheduled rest.
- Jabari Bird took Marcus Morris' minutes in the rotation and he continues to make a strong case for himself as a deep bench player for the team's postseason run. C's will need to waive someone to add him to the roster but he is playing over Abdel Nader right now, which is noteworthy. He had six points and four rebounds in the first half.
- 53 percent shooting and 40 percent from 3-point range for the C's for a mostly crisp offensive performance against the Hawks second stringers. Good ball movement, and some timely shooting by everyone from the perimeter and only four turnovers.
- C's added size also allowed them to hit the offensive glass for 13 second chance points and 32 points in the paint.
- Semi Ojeleye is quietly hitting 3-pointers at a decent clip over the past couple of months. He looks to be establishing himself as the fourth man off the bench for the playoff rotation.
- Nice aggressiveness by Al Horford against his former team, piling up 14 points on 4-of-9 shooting. He's going to have to take on an enhanced offensive role this postseason with Irving out of the picture.
- Marcus Morris will be out today as he gets some rest ahead of the postseason. Guerschon Yabusele is also out with a sore knee. Imaging came back negative on the rookie however, so it doesn't look to be a serious absence.
- Brad Stevens was ready to crack a few jokes at the expense of Morris but has no worries about his recent run-in with officials: "I always think, ultimately, certainly there’s thing that lead to technical fouls or ejections or whatever the case may be. Sometimes you disagree with a call, sometimes you get into it with a guy like he did the other day. He knows. He’s 28 years old. He knows. Ultimately, we do talk about, especially as we get into this time of year and we move forward next week, is that we have to be able to move on to the next play regardless. And that’s a big part of the game; not everything is going to go yourway. I’m not worried about it with Marcus. I was joking that I was going to tell you all that we’re sitting to save him money. But, no, not worried about him at all."
- Stevens on the recent play of Jabari Bird: "It was really a unique year there because we dealt with a lot more missed games than normal. He looks like he’s feeling good and he was excited to play and I think -- it’s one of the things we’ve talked about like with the Bulls the other day and you can certainly see it with the Atlanta team -- you’ve got a bunch of young guys playing and they are chomping at the bit to play. They’re playing really hard, they played great at Washington the other night and there’s a fearlessness about them that is really fun. And you saw it the other night with Bird and then when Gibson got in. It is kinda fun to see guys take the stage and step up."