Hawks overcome first half 30-point deficit in 120-118 win over Celtics

A comeback for the record books.

The Atlanta Hawks were at home Monday evening to face the Boston Celtics.

The Celtics, who have the best record in the NBA at 57-14, will be in Atlanta for most of the week with them having to play the Hawks again on Thursday. Both teams came in winning their previous games, and both came in with injuries to their starting lineup as well.

To start the first quarter, the Hawks trailed by double digits as they struggled with the Celtics size and couldn’t stop them on the perimeter,

The Hawks couldn’t get much going on either side of the ball, and the Celtics took full control of the Hawks faults, increasing their lead minute by minute. By the end of the first quarter, the Hawks trailed 44-22.

Things didn’t get better for the Hawks in the second quarter, with the Celtics going on a run to extend their lead. The Hawks stopped the bleeding for just a short amount of time, but it wasn’t enough to cut deeply into the Celtics lead.

The Hawks started to knock down a couple of threes to cut down their deficit.

The lone bright spot for the Hawks was Clint Capela, who feasted in the paint in the first half with the Hawks struggling from behind the arc.

During the final minutes of the first half, the Hawks started to make more of a bigger run cutting their deficit down to 18 points, the least they had been down since the first quarter.

In a complete 180 turn, the Hawks turned an 18-point game into a three-point game in just a matter of minutes.

Even though the Hawks were able to cut down the lead, the Celtics got back into a groove instantly after calling a timeout and increased their lead back to double digits.

Vit Krejci had himself a quarter, knocking down several threes to cut down the deficit once again.

The Hawks continued to fight through the third quarter, and with the help of more three-pointers going down, they were able to go into the fourth quarter trailing only 96-90.

The Hawks kept the momentum going as the fourth started and eventually took their first lead of the game.

They kept it going with this big three from Bogdan Bogdanovic.

With two minutes remaining, the Hawks took a one-point lead with a Bogdanovic three, but the Celtics answered on the other end. The Hawks came back and hit a shot to grab the lead again, and the Celtics did not answer this time. This led the Hawks to have a chance to ice the game, and that’s what they did with nine seconds left after DeAndre Hunter knocked down a big three to give the Hawks a four-point lead.

Hunter finished with 24 points, Bogdanovic finished with 22 points, and Dejounte Murray finished with 19 points and 15 assists.

The Hawks will be back in action against the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday evening.