Getting the Playoffs off to a good start: 10 Takeaways from Boston Celtics-Atlanta Hawks Game 1

1. The Boston Celtics 2023 NBA Playoffs run is off to a good start. Sure, the Atlanta Hawks made it semi-interesting in the second half, but Boston was never not in control after the midway point of the first quarter.

This was kind of a throwback back to the 2022 Celtics style of play. Boston’s defense was elite, as they held Atlanta under 39%. The Celtics guarded the arc extremely well, by staying attached to Trae Young and leaving lesser shooters open. When the Hawks got inside, the Celtics were there to challenge shots over and over again.

On offense, the best way to describe Boston’s approach is overpowering. The Hawks projected to have an advantage in the paint, but in Game 1, the Celtics matched them with 54 points in the paint. At no point was Boston settling for three-pointers. They took 33 triples, but most of them were off drive-and-kick plays where the defense was in rotation. Overall, a whopping 30 of Boston’s 33 three-point attempts were classified as open or wide-open.

That all came because Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum set a tone early that they were going to get to the rim whenever they wanted. As Atlanta adjusted, some of those drives turned into kickouts to shooters.

In many ways, Game 1 played out as expected. The Hawks simply don’t have the defensive talent to slow the Celtics down. And if Boston is going to defend like this, Atlanta won’t be able to score efficiently enough to make it much of a series.

2. Jaylen Brown had some issues with the cut on his right hand, and he said it opened back up during the game. That caused some ballhandling and passing miscues at times. But mostly, Brown played through it quite well. He got to his shots with little trouble.

This was a lightning-quick Eurostep here:

Atlanta got cross-matched in transition a lot in this game. On this one, Brown drew Onyeka Okongwu. Instead of forcing the drive, Brown used a dribble series to get to the nice step-back:

The patience from Marcus Smart here was terrific. He holds up the break to let Brown circle around him. And, as they have repeatedly done in the second half of the season, Smart found Brown cutting through the backdoor:

This is pure scoring craft. John Collins comes up with the nice strip, but Brown recovers the ball. He doesn’t rush into a second shot. Instead, he gets to his spot and works Collins for an up-and-under finish that would make Kevin McHale proud:

Once again, Brown drew a big here. This time it’s Clint…