NBA Playoffs: Celtics dominate Hawks, Suns level series with Clippers

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

Higher-seeded squads Boston Celtics and the Phoenix Suns avoided a stunner in their respective home floors and took care of NBA playoff business last April 19, 2023.

Boston replicated its dominant all-around performance against the Atlanta Hawks, 119-106, to take a commanding 2-0 Eastern Conference first-round lead.

Despite a better shooting percentage from Trae Young and the rest of the Hawks, Boston’s balanced offensive attack matched with their tight perimeter defense proved to be the key in containing Atlanta in the second half.

Unlike the one-sided Game 1 where Boston scored a wire-to-wire win, the Celtics fought a more determined Atlanta squad that went firing from all cylinders in the first 10 minutes of the game to take the lead.

The duo of Dejounte Murray and Young had no trouble penetrating against Marcus Smart and Derrick White, the reason why they were able to hang on to a nine-point lead.

However, in the last two minutes of the opening quarter, Boston pulled off a much-needed offensive snowball shouldered by Jayson Tatum that helped them erase their deficit and take a 28-25 lead.

From there, Atlanta never recovered offensively as the Celtics started to strike back with force and own the second quarter with a 33-24 score.

Atlanta showed some signs of life when they got themselves to within nine points for most of the third quarter but Boston once again unleashed a momentum-clinching rally in the last seven minutes of the final canto to swell their advantage to as much as 19 points.

Tatum led Boston with 29 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, one steal, and a block backstopped by White who exploded for 26 markers, seven rebounds, and three rejections.

Meanwhile, in the Western Conference, the Phoenix Suns rallied from a double-digit deficit, 123-109, to tie things up with the Los Angeles Clippers, 1-1.

From trailing by 13 points in the second quarter, the Suns relied on the offensive prowess of Kevin Durant and Devin Booker who dominated in the last five minutes of the period to equalize the score at 59-all heading into the second half.

The Clippers were looking comfortable running their pick-and-roll sets between Russell Westbrook and Ivica Zubac but once Durant and Booker got it going, Phoenix suddenly flipped the switch and looked like an entirely different beast.

Booker continued his onslaught in the second half and dropped 18 points in just the third quarter which proved to be the early silencer for Los Angeles.

Chris Paul, Phoenix’s veteran star point guard, then took matters into his own hands in the last three minutes of the ball game.

Paul, who became their most clutch player during their championship campaign when they fought the Milwaukee Bucks, showed his vintage form and drained cold-blooded buckets including three-straight mid-range jumpers that put the Clippers away for good.

Booker finished the night with 38 big points and nine assists followed by Durant who contributed 25 points, six rebounds, five assists, and two blocks.

Meanwhile, in the other game of the April 19 playoff schedule, the Cleveland Cavaliers crush the New York Knicks, 107-90, to tie their series at 1-1.