Atlanta Hawks Crush Boston Celtics, 121-97

The Atlanta Hawks move to 10-6 Tuesday night after beating the Boston Celtics 121-97 on the same night the Hawks retired Dikembe Mutombo‘s number 55 jersey.

It was a good night for the Atlanta Hawks, as they defeated an old rival in the Boston Celtics, 121-97. Tuesday night was also the night that the Atlanta Hawks organization retired Dikembe Mutombo’s number 55 jersey. Atlanta moved to 10-6, while Boston fell back to .500 at 7-7.

Atlanta did a great job tonight in two areas of the game: shooting and rebounding. The Hawks shot 56.2% from the field, 50.0% from three, and 86.4% from the line. Boston wasn’t bad shooting the basketball tonight with their .415/.429/.769 split, but Atlanta torched them out on the perimeter.

Surprisingly, the Atlanta Hawks handled the physical Boston Celtics on the glass, out-rebounding Brad Stevens’ team 55 to 38. In their previous meeting this season, Boston eviscerated Atlanta on the boards at the TD Garden. Atlanta still isn’t build to clobber teams on the glass, but we’ll certainly take a great team rebounding performance when we can get it.

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The Atlanta Hawks had seven players in double-digit scoring, led by Paul Millsap‘s 25 points. He shot a blistering 10-14 from the field and had 9 rebounds. Thabo Sefolosha started in place of the injured Kent Bazemore and did not disappoint. Sefolosha had 15 points on 7-8 shooting, with 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 forced turnovers. It was one of the most complete games Thabo has played since arriving in Atlanta last season.

Kyle Korver was feeling it from long-range with 15 points on 6-10 shooting, including a perfect 3-3 from three. Two of his other made shots were the longest twos possible, as his foot was on the line twice. Mike Scott had a great day off the bench with 15 points. He really attacked the Celtics down low and I hope he continues to add that element to his offensive game.

Of course, this was finally the Atlanta Hawks’ debut for SG Tim Hardaway Jr. Head Coach Mike Budenholzer finally called Hardaway’s number and he played a strong 12:11 tonight. It seems as though Bud trusts him enough on the defensive end to merit some playing time. Hardaway was 1-3 from the field with a three-point and an assist. He had a +3 plus/minus rating which was nice. Every Hawk that suited up tonight played in the ball game.

Next: Walter Tavares: Could He Help With Hawks' Poor Rebounding?

Atlanta will get right on the plane after tonight’s game to head to the Twin Cities to take on the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Target Center tomorrow night. Tipoff is at 8:00 PM ET. Let’s Go Hawks!