When the Atlanta Hawks and Boston Celtics play their respective regular-season finales at Boston on Sunday afternoon, they might just go through the motions.
When the playoffs begin, the Hawks (41-40) will be seeded eighth in the Eastern Conference. They will go head to head with the Miami Intensity in the play-in competition on Tuesday, and a success in that challenge would drive them into the end of the season games against the second-cultivated Celtics (56-25).
Friday night’s 136-131 overtime loss to the Philadelphia 76ers ended Atlanta’s three-game winning streak. Quin Snyder, the coach of the Hawks, was quick to point out that more significant matters lie ahead.
On Friday, Trae Young had a career-high 20 assists and 27 points to go along with nine turnovers.
Young has averages in points (26.2) and assists (10.2) that rank second on the team. The two-time All-Star contributed 31.0 and 11.0 points, respectively, in Atlanta’s previous two games against Boston, both of which ended in defeat.
The Celtics followed up Wednesday’s 97-93 triumph over the Raptors with an unbalanced 121-102 win versus Toronto two evenings later.
On Friday, Sam Hauser scored 26 points, a career high, with six 3-pointers.
Boston was able to make up for the absence of All-Star Jaylen Brown, who missed the game after cutting a finger on his shooting hand by accident, thanks to Hauser’s heroics. Brown will also be unable to play Atlanta in the final game of the regular season on Sunday, but he is expected to be ready for the playoffs.
Because he didn’t play in the second half on Friday, Jayson Tatum got a head start in that regard. As the Celtics get ready for the postseason, he probably will do the same thing throughout Sunday afternoon’s game.
