Final: Hawks 130, Cetlics 122 - Hawks get blazing hot, C's can't hit down the stretch

Celtics vs. Hawks 

Game 3, 7:00 p.m.

State Farm Arena, ESPN, NBCS Boston

Line: Boston -5.5

Refs: Scott Foster (#48), Pat Fraher (#26), Mitchell Ervin (#27)

Injures: 

Boston- Gallinari (out). Atlanta- None 

Projected Starters

Boston: Marcus Smart, Derrick White, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Al Horford

Atlanta: Trae Young, Dejounte Murray, John Collins, De’Andre Hunter, Clint Capela

What I’m looking for:

Taking a punch: The Hawks are going to come out desperate and fueled by a home crowd that, while absent during the whole regular season, likes to show up for the playoffs. 

“I think just having the awareness to how the game is going. I think we took one of their punches and in Atlanta I expect more,” Joe Mazzulla said. “Being down 11 at home, and I thought we handled that relatively well. Just building an awareness to how the run was made and then how we can adjust and execute. I think every game takes on a life of its own, and we just have to be ready for that.”

The Hawks can make things look uncomfortable for Boston early on, but can the Celtics answer? Are they willing to answer? 

Jaylen Brown show: This is Brown’s first playoff game at home, so this will be a big day for him. What will he do? Will he try to do too much and start turning the ball over, or will he have a superstar day? It’s hard to predict which it will be because guys going home like this can go either way. 

Minutes distribution: The Celtics are going from two days off between games to every other day, a more natural, regular season cadence to the series. With less rest in between games, I wonder if Mazzulla will push guys to the same minutes load they’ve seen in Games 1 and 2. Will Grant Williams get a few minutes in order to keep Al Horford’s minutes down? Will we see some adjustment to how long Tatum and Brown have played? 

How I think it will go:

I expect the Hawks to come out hot. If guys like Hunter, Saddiq Bey, and Bogdan Bogdanovic are going to have big nights, it’s going to be tonight. If Trae Young is going to make some logo shots, it’s going to be tonight. If the Hawks are going to put forth a reasonable defensive effort, it’s going to be tonight. 

I’ve been saying Celtics in five, and I’m going to stick to that even though my gut is telling me four feels more likely. I’ll give the Hawks the respect that an NBA playoff team at home after losing the first two games will be desperate and focused while the Celtics might be a little cool and too relaxed. I think Brown’s first playoff game at home might lead to him playing outside of himself as well. 

There's definitely a big part of me that believes all of this can happen and Boston will still win. I would not be shocked by that at all. But I’ll just give the Hawks some respect and say they shoot themselves to a win tonight. If I’m wrong, at least I’m wrong in a good way. 

Follow along below or in the comments during the game, chime in, and let’s have fun.