Hawks at Celtics
The Boston Celtics made their way back into the series behind 42 points and some controversy from All-Star Isaiah Thomas. The point guard managed to escape without a suspension after appearing to hit Atlanta point guard Dennis Schroder in the face, and the Celtics will try to even the series at two wins apiece when they host the Hawks on Sunday.
Schroder and Thomas battled back and forth in Game 3 and Thomas sent a hand toward Schroder’s face in the first quarter after the two were assessed technical fouls for jawing at each other. The refs missed the hit to the face but did catch Schroder knocking Thomas down seconds later. "I still feel disrespected (about) what he did," Schroder told reporters after the decision to hand Thomas a flagrant 1 foul on Saturday. "I (had) just scored a basket and tried to go back on defense and he smacked me. It had nothing to do with basketball.” Thomas’ career-high 42 points were the key to Boston’s 111-103 victory which got the team back into the series after a pair of terrible offensive performances in the first two games.
TV: 6 p.m. ET, TNT, FSN Southeast (Atlanta), CSN New England (Boston)
ABOUT THE HAWKS: Atlanta was down 17 at the end of the first quarter on Friday and trailed by as much as 19 early in the third before battling back and taking the game down to the wire. “It was going to be tough to sweep this team anyway,” Hawks forward Kent Bazemore told reporters. “Being down 2-0 and them having a home game, we knew they were going to put up a fight. We know that we’ve got to do a lot better. Our defense wasn’t where it should have been for a chunk of a game." Bazemore has sandwiched a pair of 20-point outings around a 2-of-14 effort in Game 2.
ABOUT THE CELTICS: Boston is still without starting shooting guard Avery Bradley (hamstring) and switched up the lineup in Game 3 in an effort to coax some more offense out of the team, inserting Jonas Jerebko and Evan Turner. Those two combined for 28 points and spaced the floor for Thomas, who attacked the basket and joined Hall of Famers like Larry Bird and John Havlicek as Celtics who have gone for 40 or more points in the playoffs. "I’m just glad we got the win, first and foremost," Thomas told reporters. "But, I mean, that makes me feel happy, just to be in same category of those great players and I just want to follow in the footsteps of all the Celtics greats.”
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Celtics C Kelly Olynyk (shoulder) sat out the last two games and is “highly questionable” for Game 4.
2. Atlanta G Kyle Korver is 10-of-16 from 3-point range in the last two games after going 0-of-7 from beyond the arc in Game 1.
3. Boston F Jae Crowder totaled six points on 2-of-20 shooting in the last two games.