Jayson Tatum, Celtics Deemed ‘Hungry’ for Title by Fans in Rout of Trae Young, Hawks

The Boston Celtics led by as many as 32 points en route to a 112-99 win over the Atlanta Hawks in Game 1 of their first-round NBA Eastern Conference playoff series on Saturday.

Jaylen Brown (29 points, 12 rebounds), Jayson Tatum (25 points, 11 boards) and Derrick White (24 points, seven assists) encountered no issues with the Hawks defense.

Marcus Smart stuffed the stat sheet with 11 points, seven assists, seven rebounds, three steals and two blocks. Robert Williams III made all six of his buckets off the bench for 12 points and eight boards.

Boston scored 45 second-quarter points to take a 74-44 halftime lead. The Celtics then took their foot off the gas in the third and fourth quarters, and Atlanta cut the deficit to as few as 12 points. The Celtics’ offense struggled in the second half with just 38 points.

However, the Hawks were unable to cut this lead into single digits thanks in part to a 10-2 Celtics run after a fourth quarter timeout, which all but put the game away.

The Celtics are shooting for an NBA championship after falling short of that goal last year in a six-game Finals loss to the Golden State Warriors.

The talent is in place for a repeat run to the championship, although the road won’t be easy with potential matchups against a pair of MVP candidates in Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid and Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo looming in the East playoffs.

However, the Celtics couldn’t have asked for a much better start Saturday outside of the second-half swoon, which ultimately was irrelevant with the game never seriously in doubt.

Twitter recognized how hungry and dominant this team appears for a title en route to an impressive postseason start.

Boston will host Atlanta for Game 2 of the best-of-seven series on Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET.