Celtics at Hawks
The hot-and-cold Atlanta Hawks are soaring yet again, bringing a seven-game winning streak into Friday’s home contest against the Boston Celtics. A 117-97 victory Tuesday at Brooklyn surpassed an earlier six-game win streak for longest of the season for a Hawks team that is 12-6 since a seven-game slide.
The biggest storyline will be the return of Al Horford, who signed with Boston in the offseason after playing his first nine seasons with the Hawks. “It’s a new experience for me,” Horford told reporters after Boston’s 117-108 victory over Washington, “but I have a job to do here with our team.” The Celtics also are hot, winning 11 of their past 14 games to hold onto third place in the Eastern Conference. Atlanta’s recent streak has pushed the Hawks into fourth in the East, 1 1/2 games behind Boston.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, CSN New England (Boston), FSN Southeast (Atlanta)
ABOUT THE CELTICS (24-15): Horford is averaging 15.3 points in his first season with Boston, along with career highs in assists (4.9), blocked shots (1.9) and free-throw percentage (84.5 percent). Guard Isaiah Thomas scored 38 points in his 400th career NBA game Wednesday on 14-of-29 shooting, and entered Thursday fourth in the league in scoring at 28.2 points per game. Thomas has scored 20 or more points in 23 consecutive games, surpassed in team history by only John Havlicek (40 games) and Kevin McHale (30 games).
ABOUT THE HAWKS (22-16): Atlanta is averaging 106.4 points during its winning streak while holding six of its seven opponents to fewer than 100 points. Horford’s replacement at center, Dwight Howard, pulled down 16 rebounds to go with 14 points Tuesday and ranks third in the NBA in rebounds (13.4) and fourth in field-goal percentage (63.2 percent). Point guard Dennis Schroder averages a team-best 17.8 points and bumped that to 20 points per contest during the winning streak.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Boston will be without G Avery Bradley, C Tyler Zeller and G/F James Young on Friday, but expects forwards Amir Johnson and Jaylen Brown – both missed Wednesday’s game with sprained ankles – to be available.
2. Atlanta blocked a season-high 12 shots in Tuesday’s victory.
3. The Celtics entered Thursday fifth in the NBA in free-throw shooting (80.9 percent), while the Hawks rank 28th at 71.5 percent.