LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — Jayson Tatum bagged 29 points as the Boston Celtics defeated the Atlanta Hawks 119-106 to take a 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference NBA playoff series on Tuesday.
The second-seeded Celtics, 112-99 victors over Atlanta in game one, overcame a slow start to dominate the seventh-seeded Hawks for a comfortable victory at Boston’s TD Garden.
“Playoffs are all about adjustments, trying to move on from game-to-game, seeing what you can do better — and I think we played better,” Tatum said afterwards.
“We want to be peaking at this time of year. Everybody’s healthy, playing the right way, playing really well — but we’ve got another level we can go to hopefully.”
Atlanta started well, jumping out to a 22-11 lead in the first quarter before Boston’s offense clicked to give the Celtics a 28-25 lead heading into the second quarter.
Once in front, the Celtics never relinquished the advantage, opening up a 61-49 half-time lead and extending that to 20 points midway through the third quarter as Boston’s defense shut down Atlanta’s scoring.
Atlanta rallied to get within eight points of the Celtics in the fourth quarter, but Boston never looked like squandering their lead down the stretch and pulled away convincingly to ensure they will take a 2-0 lead into game three in Atlanta on Friday.
Tatum finished with 29 points including five three-pointers, while Derrick White provided offensive support with 26 points and Jaylen Brown added 18 points.
Dejounte Murray led Atlanta’s scorers with 29 points while Trae Young finished with 24.
Tatum meanwhile said Boston will be ready for an Atlanta backlash in game three on Friday.
“We’ve got to be that much more together, more focused, more locked in. Playing on the road is tough, especially in the playoffs,” Tatum said. “But it’s going to be fun — we’re looking forward to it.”
© Agence France-Presse