BOSTON CELTICS (29-17) at ATLANTA HAWKS (23-25)

Location: TD Garden, Boston, MA

Radio: 98.5 The Sports Hub

Luka Garza – AVAILABLE (non-Covid illness)

Neemias Queta – OUT (non-Covid illness)

Jayson Tatum – OUT (right Achilles repair)

N’Faly Dante – OUT (torn right ACL)

RayJ Dennis – OUT (G League, two-way)

Nikola Djurisic – OUT (G League, on assignment)

Caleb Houstan – OUT (G League, two-way)

Asa Newell – OUT (G League, on assignment)

Kristaps Porzingis – OUT (left Achilles tendinitis)

Zaccharie Risacher – OUT (left knee bone contusion)

What to watch for: As the trade deadline looms, the Boston Celtics are just looking to make it to the All-Star break. They’ve been enduring some very physical contests, and the offense is looking for a new source of consistency every night.

Sitting at 6-4 in their last 10, Boston is grinding out wins and just barely dropping games in their losses. It’s truly been a battle every single night.

Tale of the tape: This will be just the second time the Celtics have taken on the Atlanta Hawks all year. In the first, it was an onslaught.

Three after three, the Celtics downed the Hawks, with Sam Hauser coming just one triple shy of snapping Marcus Smart’s franchise record of 11 in a single game.

Hauser also set the NBA record for most threes attempted without taking a single two (21).

Atlanta’s attempt to send extra pressure at Boston’s ball-handlers by bringing Onyeka Okongwu up to the level in the pick-and-roll failed miserably. The Celtics simply made smart passes and generated a ton of open threes.

Last game: On Monday night, the Celtics nearly let the Portland Trail Blazers mount a fourth-quarter comeback. It was Jrue Holiday’s first time back at TD Garden since getting traded this past summer, and Robert Williams III’s first time playing against the Celtics in his career.

Payton Pritchard’s scoring punch led the way as rookie big man Amari Williams gave Joe Mazzulla some impressive minutes off the bench.

Portland’s slew of tough defenders gave Boston trouble, but Pritchard and Jaylen Brown pushed through.

Standings check-in: Boston’s win over Portland kept them in second place in the East, but they are still 5.5 games back of the Detroit Pistons in first.

That said, the Celtics remain a full game ahead of the New York Knicks and Toronto Raptors, and two games ahead of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Hawks check-in: Since losing to the Celtics back on January 17, things have been better for the Hawks. They lost their next game to the Milwaukee Bucks, but after that, they’ve ripped off three straight wins, beating the Memphis Grizzlies, Phoenix Suns, and Indiana Pacers.

In those three games, Jalen Johnson has led the charge. He’s been their leading scorer and playmaker, averaging 23.3 points, 13.3 rebounds, and 7.7 assists in his last three.

However, the biggest change has been CJ McCollum’s shooting. When he got to Atlanta via the Trae Young trade, he was ice-cold. But now, he’s shooting very well from distance.

McCollum is averaging 19.7 points while shooting 54.5% from the field and 55.6% from deep on 6.0 attempts per game in Atlanta’s last three wins.

Luke Kennard has also been scorching hot, shooting 83.3% on 4.0 three-point attempts per contest in the Hawks’ last three games.

One fun play: Take a look at the awareness from Hauser on this play.

The Blazers had been sending help at Brown for a lot of the night, especially when he got a mismatch. But Hauser knows Toumani Camara would cut off any attempted pass to the three-point line.

So, he floats into the middle of the floor.

Derrick White shifts up to the wing, taking Jrue Holiday with him. And since Camara is doubling, Jerami Grant moves just a little bit into the paint to cover Hauser.

When Brown finds Hauser, all it takes is one simple pass to find Pritchard for an open three. Just some great spatial awareness from Hauser.