Hawks rout Celtics behind Danilo Gallinari’s 10 treys
Danilo Gallinari #8 of the Atlanta Hawks shoots a three-point basket against the Boston Celtics during the first half at State Farm Arena on February 24, 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia. Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images/AFP (Photo by Kevin C. Cox / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
Danilo Gallinari set a franchise record with 10 3-pointers and scored a season-high 38 points to lead the Atlanta Hawks to a 127-112 win over the visiting Boston Celtics on Wednesday.
Gallinari snapped out of a shooting slump to make his first seven 3-point shots, and he scored 24 points in the first half. He finished 13-for-16 from the floor and 10-for-12 from beyond the arc. Over the previous four games, Gallinari shot 22.5 percent (9-for-40) from the floor and 30 percent (6-for-20) from 3-point range.
Article continues after this advertisementGallinari broke the club record of nine 3-pointers set by Steve Smith in March 1997 against the Seattle SuperSonics. Gallinari’s previous best was eight 3-pointers in October 2009.
🐓 38 PTS on 13-16 shooting for Gallo
🐓 10 3s (career high & franchise record)@gallinari8888 WENT OFF in the @ATLHawks win. pic.twitter.com/H6mZF80GSo— NBA (@NBA) February 25, 2021
Atlanta’s Trae Young added 33 points, 25 of them in the first half, and seven assists. It was the 12th time he has surpassed the 30-point mark this season.
Article continues after this advertisementThe last time Atlanta had two players with 20 points at halftime was Joe Johnson and Al Harrington in December 2005.
Atlanta also got 14 points and 11 rebounds from John Collins, who was back in the lineup after coming out of the concussion protocol. He did not play in the second half of the Hawks’ Tuesday loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers after taking an elbow to the head.
Boston got 17 points from Jaylen Brown, 14 points from Jeff Teague and 13 each from Tristan Thompson, Jayson Tatum and Aaron Nesmith. Thompson also grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds.
Atlanta has won three of its past five games while Boston has lost three in a row. The Hawks lead the season series 2-1, and they broke Boston’s five-game winning streak in Atlanta.
The Hawks were ahead 40-27 after one quarter and led by as many as 27 points in the second quarter thanks to 61.9 percent shooting in the half both from the floor and from 3-point range.
Things were going so poorly for the Celtics that Marcus Smart was assessed a technical foul, even though he was inactive for the game due to a calf injury, and Young bounced an inbounds pass off the back of Boston’s Grant Williams, caught it and scored.
Boston gave guard Kemba Walker the night off for load management of his left knee.
