In a span of eight days, the Atlanta Hawks returned to the State Farm Arena for their third matchup against the Boston Celtics. After splitting the first two meetings, the Hawks exploded in a 127-112 home win on Wednesday, with Danilo Gallinari putting together a night for the history books.
Gallinari erupted for a season-high 38 points (13-16 FG, 10-12 3Pt, 2-2 FT), six rebounds, two assists and two steals in 33 minutes. He set a franchise record with 10 three-pointers breaking the club record of nine three-pointers set by Steve Smith in March 1997 against the Seattle SuperSonics. Gallinari’s previous best was eight three-pointers in October 2009. He also became only the third player in league history to score a minimum of 10 threes in a game after coming off the bench.
Atlanta’s Trae Young added 33 points, 25 of which were in the first half, and seven assists. It was the 12th time he surpassed the 30-point mark this season. The last time Atlanta had two players with 20 points at halftime was Joe Johnson and Al Harrington in December 2005. John Collins put together a 14-point, 11-rebound double-double.
Collectively, the Hawks recorded 13 three-pointers in the first half, tying a franchise record for threes in any half — seven of which came from Gallinari — as they stretched their advantage over the Celtics to as many as 27 points in the first half. The team scored over 1.3 points per possession for the entire night.
Meanwhile, Boston’s Jaylen Brown got 17 points, Jeff Teague added 14 points and Tristan Thompson, Jayson Tatum and Aaron Nesmith each contributed 13 apiece. Thompson also managed to grab a game-high 13 rebounds. Guard Kemba Walker was given the night off for load management of his left knee.
The Hawks have now won three of their past five games while the Celtics have lost three in a row. Atlanta lead the season series 2-1, and they broke Boston’s five-game winning streak at home.
