Takeaways: Brown, Hauser lead Celtics to big win over Hawks - audacy.com

[JB]

https://www.audacy.com/weei/sports/celtics/takeaways-brown-hauser-lead-celtics-to-big-win-over-hawks

4 takeaways as Jaylen Brown, Sam Hauser lead Celtics to dominant win over Hawks

Justin Turpin5 hours ago

The Celtics were due for a win like this.

After dropping three of four and needing a 19-point comeback to beat the Heat in Miami on Thursday, the Celtics were due for a dominant performance. They got it in a 132–106 blowout win over the Hawks, a game in which Boston trailed for only 49 seconds and led by as many as 43 points, its second-largest lead of the season.

With the win, the Celtics improved to 2-1 on their current four-game road trip, with the final game scheduled for Monday night against the East-leading Detroit Pistons.

Here are four takeaways as the Celtics improve to 26-15, and take a 1.5-game lead over the Knicks for the second seed in the Eastern Conference at the halfway mark of the season.

Jaylen Brown put on a show back home

Jaylen Brown says there is no added juice when he returns to his hometown of Atlanta to take on the Hawks.

“I do not get excited, no,” Brown said. “In the past, I haven’t really liked playing at home. It’s a lot of distraction, being home, so many people. But as you get older and stuff like that, I’m starting to find my middle ground. So today was good.”

You would never know.

Just a day after having his high school jersey number retired, Brown scored 41 points in just 29 minutes, earning the fourth quarter off in a dominant performance.

https://tinyurl.com/4haev9z7

Atlanta had no answer.

Brown made 14 of his 30 shot attempts (46.7%), and shot 11-of-12 (91.7%) from the free-throw line, with six rebounds and two assists.

The 41-point outburst marked Brown’s fourth 40-point game of the season, the most in the Eastern Conference and the second-most in the NBA, trailing only Luka Doncic and Anthony Edwards, who have five apiece. Two of Brown’s four 40-point games have come in fewer than 30 minutes, putting him alongside Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson as the only players in NBA history with multiple 40-point performances in under 30 minutes.

Sam Hauser made franchise history, though not the record he was gunning for

Back in March 2024, just two minutes and 33 seconds into the third quarter of a blowout win over the Wizards, Sam Hauser had already drained 10 three-pointers. With nearly two full quarters remaining, he was just one three-pointer shy of tying Marcus Smart’s franchise record of 11. But his bid was cut short after he stepped on someone’s foot on the Wizards’ bench, spraining his ankle and forcing him out for the rest of the game.

In the locker room, Jaylen Brown, who had the night off, was convincing Hauser to get back on the floor and try for the record.

“I was like, ‘bro, you’ve gotta get back out there! We need you to get that record,” Brown recalled.

But Hauser knew his chance would come again.

“He was like, ‘Ahh, it’s going to come back to me,’” Brown said with a smile.

Hauser was right. The moment arrived Saturday night, but once again, he came up just short, despite doing everything he could to knock down that 11th make.

After hitting his 10th three with 7:55 remaining in the fourth quarter, Hauser missed his final six attempts, all of them coming in a span of two minutes and six seconds.

“At that point, it was just like, let’s get them up, see what happens. And then I got dead tired,” Hauser said. “The last couple, they were on line, they were just way short. So it is what it is. I’m glad Joe left me in to try. I appreciate my teammates for just kind of giving me the ball and being okay with that and letting me kind of just throw them up there. But, maybe next time.”

Still, Hauser made a bit of franchise history, becoming the only Celtic to make at least 10 three-pointers in a game twice. In the end, though, Smart’s records for made threes (11) and attempts (22) remain untouched, as Hauser finished 10-of-21 from deep (47.6%).

And even without the record, with his performance, Hauser is now shooting 39.0 percent from three this season, inching closer to the 40 percent mark he has never dipped below at any level — high school, college, the G League, or the NBA. All 30 of his season-high points came from beyond the arc.

The Celtics put on an offensive clinic

Led by Brown and Hauser, whose 71 combined points outscored Atlanta’s entire starting five (65), the Celtics put on an offensive clinic. Boston finished with 132 points on 46-of-91 (50.5%) shooting from the field and 22-of-55 (42.3%) from three with 27 assists, despite only scoring 15 points in the fourth quarter as they pulled the starters and took their foot off the gas.

They posted a ridiculous 197.6 offensive rating and averaged 1.98 points per possession.

The Celtics scored 52 (!) points in the second quarter, tied for the second-most in a quarter in franchise history, and two shy of their franchise record 54 set in 1970. Hauser (18) and Brown (11) combined for 29, singlehandedly outscoring the Hawks as a whole (28). Anfernee Simons added 11 points as Boston shot 19-of-25 (76.0%) from the field and 11-of-15 (73.3%) from three, with 11 assists in the frame.

The Celtics’ defense was also very strong

Led by Derrick White, whose relatively “quiet” (at least for his standards) game featured seven points, a season-high 12 assists, five rebounds, three steals, and a block, the Celtics finished with nine steals, eight blocks, and 20 deflections.

Five different Celtics had a steal, seven had a block, and seven had a deflection. The defense was active all night, holding Atlanta to just 106 points on 38-of-102 (37.3%) shooting from the field and 15-of-46 (32.6%) from three.

“We pride ourselves on our defense,” Jaylen Brown said. “Our guys play hard, and we have a defensive game plan. And we come out and try to execute it regardless of personnel. We got some guys that make multiple effort plays, and all that typeof  stuff adds up.”

That effort was apparent on Saturday night.

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[david Pontrelli]

Missing in most articles is a little, possibly insignificant stat, but Queta led all players with a +39. Seems like NQ is holding his own.

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[Vinny Natale]

For certain!