Hawks struggle to stifle Pritchard, fall to Celtics

BOSTON -- The Hawks’ three-game win streak came to an end Friday. They did not have enough juice in the second half to hold off Payton Pritchard and the Celtics, falling 109-102 at TD Garden.

Quick stats: Jalen Johnson finished with 29 points, six rebounds and six assists. CJ McCollum had 21 points and five rebounds. Nickeil Alexander-Walker had 20 points and five rebounds.

Pritchard scored 36 points and had seven rebounds, while Jayson Tatum finished with 26 points, 12 rebounds and five assists.

Key moment

The Hawks had a five-point lead heading into the locker room following the first half. But they could not stop the Celtics at the start of the second half.

Four minutes into the third quarter, the Celtics subbed in Pritchard, and it stretched the limits of the Hawks’ defense. It opened the floor for Sam Hauser to knock down a 3. Then Pritchard hit back-to-back jumpers, which quickly erased the Hawks’ lead and put the Celtics up 69-68.

Then the Hawks went cold.

They ended the third quarter with just eight field goals, and they fell into a hole that they never recovered from.

Highlight play

The Celtics established the momentum in the second quarter. The Hawks, though, found some burst toward the end of the second quarter to try to save their lead at halftime.

Johnson helped to stop that bleeding. He met Jordan Walsh at the rim after the Celtics wing slipped behind the Hawks’ defense. But Johnson got up and snuffed Walsh’s dunk attempt at the buzzer.

What they said

“I love what we’re at as a group. We’re not going to be perfect. We’re not going to be on a win streak to end the whole year, but how we’re playing these games and how we’re just sticking to what we do best. I think that’s something we can continue to build on despite the loss. I thought it was really good game tonight, and there’s just some things that are out of our control.” -- Johnson on how the Hawks have handled their last two tests.

“We got to rebound the ball better. Second-chance opportunities: the shooters can’t get open looks. Gave up a couple of 3s to Hauser and a couple of offensive rebounds. Then we didn’t shoot the ball well. And those are things that you can’t always control, but you can be mindful of it and try to do better.” -- McCollum on what the Hawks can be better at moving forward.

“It’s gonna be hard to win the game when ou shoot 39% from the field is really what it comes down to. And I thought we got some good looks, and frankly, to hold them to 35 3s and to defend the way we did. We just got to be a little better through a lot of things. I don’t think there’s one thing that’s going to really stand out that cost us the game we got to play better.” -- Hawks coach Quin Snyder on the Hawks’ looks down the stretch.

Up next

The Hawks head home to host the Kings on Saturday at State Farm Arena.

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