Getty Trae Young playing against the Boston Celtics
On Saturday, April 15, the Boston Celtics cooked the Atlanta Hawks to earn their first victory of the postseason.
For Boston, the game was certainly a tale of two halves, as the Celtics dominated proceedings through the first two quarters before struggling to find some consistent offense in the second half of the game.
When speaking to the media after the game, All-Star guard Trae Young gave an honest take on how the Celtics found success through the first two quarters of the game. While he also addressed the adjustments Atlanta will need to make if they want to have a chance at contending in this series.
“You got to try to force them to take tough twos,” Young said. “Not over helping too much, because that’s when they get wide-open threes and good looks at the three-point line. But we got to do a better job collectively at staying in front of our man and not them get layups. Because if let them get all into the lane for layups, then we got to help, and that’s how they get open threes. So we got to figure out how to just stay in front of our man and then not let them get easy looks”
Young put in a reasonable performance in the April 15 contest, ending the game with 16 points, 8 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals, but struggled to convert his looks, hitting just 27.8% of his field goal attempts and shooting 20% from deep.
Jayson Tatum Credits Boston’s Winning Plays
Throughout the contest, the Celtics found a new level of defensive intensity that was reminiscent of their 2022 playoff run, as they continually shut down the Hawks’ offense for long stretches.
During his post-game press conference, Jayson Tatum discussed the Celtics’ talent on their roster and why their defense can sometimes become so stifling.
“We have a special group,” Tatum said. “Really good defensive team. I think we can pressure the ball, and we have help behind us if we get beat. And not even just the bigs. The guards, everybody, just making those second, third efforts, call it winning plays. We just try to make as many of those as we can throughout the game.”
The Celtics will be hoping that those defensive flashes can continue to evolve and become part of their identity as they navigate the rest of the postseason.
Kendrick Perkins Offers Advice to The Hawks
As both teams headed back to the locker room at halftime, former Celtics champion Kendrick Perkins took to Twitter to jokingly share some advice for Quin Snyder and the Hawks coaching staff.
If I’m Quin Synder I’m not even showing film of this game tomorrow… because what adjustments are you actually going to make. I’ll just simply show a 1 hour video of a Heart pumping blood!!!! Carry on…
“If I’m Quin Synder I’m not even showing film of this game tomorrow… because what adjustments are you actually going to make. I’ll just simply show a 1 hour video of a Heart pumping blood!!!! Carry on…,” Perkins Tweeted.