Atlanta Hawks’ Trae Young injures rib, scores career-low 2 as Boston Celtics cruise
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Boston Celtics centre Neemias Queta grabs a rebound against the Atlanta Hawks in the first half at State Farm Arena.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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ATLANTA – Boston Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla had special praise for centre Neemias Queta, who became the first Portuguese player to start a National Basketball Association (NBA) game on Nov 4.
Jayson Tatum posted 28 points and nine assists for the visiting Celtics, who breezed to a 123-93 victory against the Atlanta Hawks.
Derrick White added 21, while Payton Pritchard scored 18 points off the bench as Boston (7-1) won their third straight game. Jrue Holiday scored 16 and Queta tallied 10 points and seven rebounds while Sam Hauser also scored 10.
“He’s just grown a lot as a player and, quite honestly, he doesn’t know how good he can be,” Mazzulla said of 25-year-old Queta.
“He’s got a great ceiling, so the standard is very high. I thought he did some great things for us tonight, but when you’re as good as he can be, he’s just got to – we all have to hold him to that standard every single night.”
The player himself did not make too much of his first NBA start.
He said: “Same mindset as usual, play as hard as I could, try to make the right play all the time. But the nerves from the first start, you can never really know... but I wasn’t thinking about it.
“I was just happy to be out there.”
Injury-riddled Atlanta, who lost their fifth game in six tries, was led by Jalen Johnson’s 20 points and 11 rebounds.
Trae Young, who came in averaging 27 points per game, was limited to a career-low two points on one-for-10 shooting from the field, including zero-for-six from three-point land. He played 23 minutes, leaving in the third quarter with a right rib strain.
Onyeka Okongwu chipped in 18 points and 10 boards while Zaccharie Risacher scored 15 for Atlanta. David Roddy added 11 and Garrison Mathews scored 10 as the Hawks failed to score 100 points for the first time this season.
After a dominating first half that saw the Celtics connect on 15 three-pointers, the visitors added to their 22-point lead in the third quarter, jumping out to a 92-60 lead on Queta’s dunk at the 5min 29sec mark.
With the game never in doubt after half-time, Tatum assisted Hauser on a three-pointer with 52sec left in the third, extending the lead to 103-73.
After Risacher’s dunk cut Atlanta’s deficit to 112-81 with 7:42 left in the game, back-to-back Pritchard baskets followed by Jaden Springer’s dunk gave the Celtics their largest lead at 118-81 with 6:23 remaining.
“We have got some guys who are a little tired, a little backed up,” said Hawks coach Quin Snyder.
“When you go into a game as lopsided as this is, there is a lot you can take from it. We will try to do that. But right now we are feeling the sting. It was a tough loss.”
REUTERS
