Celtics beat Hawks 119-106 to take 2-0 series lead

BOSTON (AP) —Jayson Tatum knew what was coming and waited for his moment.

His teamleading by 10 with less than three minutes to play, he hawkedAtlanta’s Trae Young as he dribbled on the right wing and tried tolead Tatum into a screen.

But theCeltics All-Star brushed it off andstretched to swatYoung;’s attemptat a step-back 3-pointer. The loose ballwas scooped up by Derrick White and tossed ahead to a streakingTatum for an one-handed dunk.

The playended a clinching late run and was the final basket of the nightfor Tatum and Boston beat Atlanta 119-106 on Tuesday night to takea 2-0 lead in the first-round playoff series.

While Tatumhad the exclamation point and finished with 29 points and 10rebounds, he said the night belonged to White. The defensive-mindedguard contributed all over the court, pouring 26 points, sevenrebounds and three blocks.

“We’re somuch more of a dynamic team when D-White is asserting himself andbeing aggressive and not being passive.” Tatum said. These last twogames (White) being aggressive, making the right play, attackingthe rim and not necessarily waiting makes us that much more of abetter team.”

Jaylen Brownadded 18 points. Boston outscored Atlanta 64-40 in the paint. Game3 is Friday night in Atlanta.

“(Tatum andBrown) get a lot of attention. It just opens up the court formyself,” White said. “When the opportunity is there I just have toattack and do what I do.”

DejounteMurray led the Hawks with 29 points. Young had 24, but shot 9 of 22from the field and 2 of 8 from beyond the arc. He also had fiveturnovers, bringing his total to 11 for the series.

“I can bebetter,” Young said. “I didn’t shoot the ball really well. I hadsome turnovers where I was just driving and it just left my hands.But I’m going to be better at home.”

Down by 20,the Hawks cut it to single digits late in the third quarter.

With Atlantatrailing 74-57, Young went to the bench and sat out the final 7:07of the period, briefly visiting the locker room.

His teammatespicked it up without him, outscoring the Celtics 24-16 to pullwithin nine — at 90-81 — entering the fourth.

Youngreturned to begin the final period and scored four straight pointswith just over five minutes to play to make it 104-95.

But theCeltics responded with a 15-2 run — bookended by a 3-pointer andTatum’s dunk — to get it back up to 119-97 with 2:16 left.

While theHawks brought a better shooting touch on Tuesday, the Celtics tooktheir overall energy up a notch, repeatedly beating Atlanta downthe court in transition and outhustling Hawks to loose balls.

One glaringexample was in the second quarter when Brown pried the ball free asDe’Andre Hunter drove by.

MalcolmBrogdon corralled it and tossed it ahead a sprinting Brown, who hadsplit between Young and Dejounte Murray as they gotcaught ballwatching.

“We’ve been agroup that’s hung our hat on defense all year,” Brown said. “Weplay both sides of the ball and we do it at a high level. Sometimesit goes unnoticed. … But when it comes down to it, the playoffs,that’s where our defense matters the most.”

SHORTLIST

White becamejust the second guard in Celtics history to have 25 or more pointsand three or more blocks in a playoff game, joining ReggieLewis.

TIP-INS

Hawks: Aftertaking 22-11 lead in the first quarter, the Hawks were outscored29-10 over the next 10 minutes of game action, committing sixturnovers and shooting 4 of 16 from the field.

Celtics: Led61-49 at the half. … Willliams’ missed putback at the 5:01 mark ofthe second quarter was his first miss of the series. He had been 10for 10 to the point. … Outscored the Hawks 18-6 in the paint in thefirst quarter.