Boston Celtics

Celtics, 49-40 (half)

By Gary Dzen

1 minute to read

The crowd quieted a bit early in the second quarter as the Hawks climbed back into the game against the Celtics bench.

When the Hawks brought the lead down to two points, Doc Rivers brought in Kevin Garnett. Garnett heard chants of “M-V-P, M-V-P” when he checked back in.

The substitution patterns in this game are different than they’ve been during the regular season. During the season, Rivers would let his bench ride out storms instead of bringing Garnett in to put out a fire. The Celtics seem to be thrown off a bit by the different rotations so far tonight.

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Still, the Celtics used 11 players in the first half. Only Glen Davis did not make it into the game among the active Cetics.

Al Horford is leading Atlanta with 11 points. Paul Pierce has 13 points for the Celtics.

The Celtics have dropped to 41 percent shooting for the game. They have made 5-of-7 threes.

  • The national television timeouts have made this game noticeably longer. After the teams talk strategy, the players are often left standing in front of the bench for more than a minute while the timeout drags on.

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