BSJ Game 4 Report: Celtics 129, Hawks 121 - Tatum & Brown combine for 62, C's take 3-1 lead

Everything you need to know about the Celtics win in Game 4 of their opening round series against the Hawks, with BSJ insight and analysis. 

IN A NUTSHELL

The first quarter basically went as expected with Boston coming out of it rebounding well, running, and building a 10-point lead. The Hawks made a run in the second quarter but the Celtics answered behind Marcus Smart to add 2 to the halftime lead. De'Andre Hunter had a massive third quarter to get things close, but Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown pushed the lead back to 10 midway through the fourth. The Hawks kept coming, but Robert Williams made some huge plays to help the stars shut the door. 

Box Score

HEADLINES

Rebounding returns: The Celtics out-rebounded Atlanta 49-42 and only gave up 11 offensive rebounds. That led to 16 second-chance points, a much more tolerable number for the Celtics. There were still some poorly-timed missed box outs, but overall the rebounding was really good. The Celtics went back to the double-big lineup to make it possible. 

Jaylen ditches mask … and his struggles: He was 1-7 to start the game and looked slow and sluggish. Then he ditched the mask and went 11-15 the rest of the way. When asked what he saw in Brown after eschewing the mask, Joe Mazzulla said “I saw his face.”

Smart bounces back in a big way: He was listed as questionable, but then he carried the Celtics through the middle quarters, scoring 17 of his 19 points in the second and third. He pushed the pace and attacked even though he said his back was locking up on him from time to time during the game. 

Whole lotta fouls: There were 47 combined fouls in this game. After watching three games where they called 32, 19, and 32, the 47 felt outrageous. The difference felt almost entirely in illegal screen calls. They talked on the broadcast about that being a point of emphasis raised by the Hawks on Al Horford screens. The refs applied it to both sides. 

TURNING POINT

Robert Williams got an offensive rebound, then caught a tough pass, and then found Jaylen Brown in the corner to put Boston up 121-109. If the Hawks had secured that rebound and scored, we’d be looking at a 7 or even a 6-point game with about a minute-and-a-half to go. 

SIX UP 

Jaylen Brown: He finished with 31 points, 12 in the fourth quarter but I was most impressed with the 2 fourth quarter assists to Robert Williams. He made two great reads to make those plays in the final few minutes where Brown has been known to force things a little bit. Those plays right there are championship-level plays that show a lot of maturity. 

Jayson Tatum: Bounced back from a rough shooting first half to hit half his shots in the second half and also go 7-8 from the line. He also had 2 huge blocked shots and a monster, dagger 3-pointer from the logo with 2:04 left. 

Robert Williams: Not only did he make that turning point play, he made a diving save of a loose ball shortly after that which Brown converted into a game-sealing dunk. 

He was challenged by Joe Mazzulla to be physical and rebound and he responded to his Game 3 dud with a shining example of why he’s such a valuable part of a championship-level team. He had 15 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks to go along with 13 points. 

Marcus Smart: He started off slow but when the Celtics were struggling in the second and early third quarters, he was here to lift them up by being aggressive. 

Derrick White: Did most of his damage in the first half where scored 15 of his 18 points, but he drew an offensive foul on Onyeka Okongwu in the fourth quarter that helped keep a Boston roll going. 

Malcolm Brogdon: He was also more effective early, but he was steady throughout the game finishing with 14 points on 60% shooting, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists. 

NONE DOWN

Sam Hauser only played 10 minutes, Mike Muscala and Grant Williams played minimally, though I could probably rag on Muscala’s 1:17 if I wanted to be mean. I don’t, though.

TOP PLAYS

FOUR TAKES KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

- Celtics need to close this out on Tuesday night:

If they win Tuesday, Game 1 against Philadelphia will be Saturday in Boston. That will give them three days off before Game 1, and limit how much rest Joel Embiid has on his sprained knee. 

Hey, life is tough in the playoffs and if someone on the other team isn’t 100%, then Boston should try to take advantage of it. 

The other huge plus to winning on Tuesday night is it would give the Celtics three days off between Game 2 and Game 3. 

If they extend the series, then they’ll be playing every other day, so let’s not make the same mistake they made last season by letting the Milwaukee and Miami series go longer than they need to. 

Atlanta is ready to roll over. They're toast. Blow them out Tuesday night, get the extra rest in the series, and maybe put a little pressure on Embiid to play hurt. 

- Al Horford had my favorite stat of the night:

He scored zero points and was a game-high +17. He was huge on the boards (11 rebounds, 3 offensive), he had a team-high 5 assists, and he had 2 steals. I didn't put him in the “up” because I wanted to give him special recognition here. 

This is exactly what a championship team needs. They got scoring from the guys who needed to score, and Horford did the little things to get the win. His passing, his defense, and his energy were huge. 

This was a great team win, and Horford was in the middle of it all. 

- The refs sent a message: 

I can get on the officials for the weak illegal screen calls, but I think those were a message to the Hawks to STFU. 

Honestly, I don’t think the refs were very appreciative of the Hawks being so adamant about Horford’s illegal screens. 

Remember that time when Chris Paul got a delay of game called because a Timberwolves player had his jersey untucked checking into a close game? What happened in the next game? The refs called two weird delay of game penalties on the Thunder to even the score. The message was ‘we ref the games, you play them.’ 

So while there's none down on the Celtics' side, I think it’s worth noting in this section that the refs absolutely made sure to apply that illegal screen call across the board to send the Hawks a message that the refs are fully capable of drawing the line where they want. 

- Dejounte Murray should be suspended for Game 5: 

Murray aggressively walked up to, and into, referee Gediminas Petraitis after the game: 

The NBA is lenient about a lot of things, but not when it comes to bumping officials. This was more aggressive than the bump Grant Williams gave to an official earlier this year and he got dinged for a game. 

It doesn’t matter much for the Hawks because they're losing Game 5 anyway, but Murray should be suspended for a game because of this. 

Next up: Game 5 is Tuesday night at 7:30