National Basketball Association

Celtics lean on their defense to close out Hawks in Game 6

Published Apr. 28, 2023 1:17 a.m. ET

The Boston Celtics literally swatted the Atlanta Hawks out of their way.

The NBA’s third-best defense in the regular season hasn't always lived up to that billing the last few weeks, but it certainly did down the stretch Thursday night. Three different Celtics blocked shots by three different Hawks in the final two-and-a-half minutes to seal a 128-120 win, a 4-2 series victory, and a date in the next round with the Philadelphia 76ers. Their swarming defense also forced the Hawks to throw the ball off a Boston defender guarding the inbound pass three times in a row to avoid a five-second violation. The fourth inbound attempt resulted in a pass that bounced across the court untouched into the Celtics’ bench for a turnover.

It was a starkly different performance than how they closed Game 5 in Boston two days earlier. The Celtics appeared helpless, on their home floor, to stop Atlanta in the fourth quarter, getting outscored 37-25, including a game-winning 3 by Trae Young.

The Game 5 carelessness wasn’t limited to the defensive end, either. The Celtics committed four turnovers in the last three-and-a-half minutes, two of them by Marcus Smart, who also fouled Young at midcourt with 15 seconds left. That gave Young two free throws, which he made, flipping a one-point Boston lead into a one-point deficit.

On Thursday night, it was completely different. The Celtics scored on six of their final seven offensive possessions while forcing three missed shots and two turnovers defensively in the final minute.

"I like how we didn’t relax, we were proactive, we were organized," said Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla of the late Game 6 execution. "It was definitely different from Game 5."

Smart, as he often does, atoned for his Game 5 sins in Game 6, scoring the Celtics’ last seven points and helping to limit Young to a far less effective night, needing 28 shots to score 30 points, 25 of them in the first half. Jayson Tatum also rebounded — literally and figuratively — with a game-high 14 rebounds to go with 30 points and seven assists and one of those late-game blocks on John Collins.

"I thought Smart was tremendous, especially late in the fourth quarter," Mazzulla said. "He got us organized, and then he was kind of the trigger man because of their hits. They were blitzing, and he made the right play."

Ric Bucher is an NBA writer for FOX Sports. He previously wrote for Bleacher Report, ESPN The Magazine and The Washington Post and has written two books, "Rebound," on NBA forward Brian Grant’s battle with young onset Parkinson’s, and "Yao: A Life In Two Worlds." He also has a daily podcast, "On The Ball with Ric Bucher." Follow him on Twitter @RicBucher.