Hawks vs. Celtics: Game 3 Score and Twitter Reaction from 2016 NBA Playoffs

Isaiah Thomas scored a career-high 42 points as the main offensive force behind the Boston Celtics' 111-103 win over the Atlanta Hawks in Game 3 at the TD Garden in Boston on Friday, cutting his team's series deficit to 2-1.

The All-Star point guard's scoring outburst led the Celtics, who had five players score in double figures. Evan Turner scored 17 points, and Amir Johnson contributed with 15.

The Celtics took to Twitter to celebrate the first playoff victory of the head coach Brad Stevens era:

Atlanta had four players score in double figures. Jeff Teague had 23 points, while backup point guard Dennis Schroder had 20. Kent Bazemore also had 20 points, and Kyle Korver had 17.

But it wasn't enough to give the Hawks a commanding 3-0 lead in the series, per Mike Conti of 92.9 FM in Atlanta:

Paul Millsap and Al Horford combined for only 16 points, as Atlanta shot 44.2 percent from the floor and 9-of-36 from three-point range. Boston, meanwhile, made 11 threes, with five of them coming from Thomas.

After he shot 33 percent through the first two games, it didn't take long for Thomas to get going Friday. He scored 16 first-quarter points on 5-of-9 shooting and made two of Boston's five three-pointers in the first 12 minutes.

The Celtics, who scored 34 and 28 first-half points in the first two games, respectively, had 37 in the first quarter and held the Hawks to 20. Boston shot 57 percent in the first quarter, which was capped off by a long two from rookie Terry Rozier, via the Celtics:

But the big story was Thomas, who finally broke out of his offensive slump to erupt for almost half of Boston's first-quarter points. That could have been a major help for the Phoenix Suns this year, as Gerald Bourguet of Hoops Habit noted:

"

There was a point in time when the #Suns had Goran Dragic and Isaiah Thomas, who are currently playing on playoff teams. The more you know.

— Gerald Bourguet (@GeraldBourguet) April 23, 2016"

Atlanta was able to cut into the deficit and trim it to 12 points in the second quarter, thanks in part to the Celtics shooting 8-of-23. The Hawks shot 11-of-21, led by six points apiece from Teague and Schroder. Despite the rough shooting stretch, the Celtics took a 12-point lead into halftime, 57-45.

With Thomas holding the hot hand through two quarters, the Hawks decided to limit his teammates. Atlanta made it a point to take the other Celtics out of the game, and it worked in the third quarter. Thomas scored 13 points in the frame, but all other Boston players combined to shoot 4-of-11, while Atlanta outscored the Celtics 33-23.

What was once a 19-point Boston lead turned into a tie game after a Schroder three-point play near the end of the third quarter. ESPN's Shea Serrano had an idea in case the Hawks came back to win the game after Boston took an 80-78 lead into the fourth:

Zach Harper of CBS Sports went into the pun department:

It was a quiet three quarters for Horford and Millsap, who combined to shoot 7-of-15 through 36 minutes. However, the Hawks' three-point shooting came alive after a 2-of-17 first-half outing, per Chris Mannix of The Vertical:

A basket from Schroder with 9:29 remaining gave Atlanta its first lead of the ballgame, and it was a good reason to get excited for Peachtree Hoops:

The Celtics, meanwhile, were shooting themselves out of the game, per CelticsBlog:

At the end, despite the Hawks' best attempts to get back into the game, no one could contain Thomas on his way to a career-best evening. Matt Moore of CBS Sports was in awe:

Even Albert Breer of NFL Network stepped away from football for a moment to appreciate Thomas' night:

The Celtics were in desperate need of an offensive spark at home, and they got it from their All-Star point guard. All it took was one game, and the Celtics are back in the series with plenty of life.

Atlanta played valiantly, coming back from a double-digit deficit to momentarily take the lead in the fourth quarter. But the Hawks didn't have enough in the tank to counter Thomas' scoring punch. They're still in command with a 2-1 lead, but the series is far from over.

Postgame Reaction

Ever since Thomas was traded to Boston, he's wanted to prove doubters wrong and be another Celtics great.

"I want to follow in the footsteps of all the Celtics greats," Thomas said, per Chris Forsberg of ESPN Boston. "I know that starts by winning.”

But when it comes to putting on a scoring display like he did Friday night, Thomas tries to make it a habit, per Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram:

Not only was it a career night for Thomas, but he did it efficiently making 12-of-24 shots and missed only two of his 15 free throw attempts.

"Tonight, [Thomas] was relentless out there," Bazemore said, per Jay King of MassLive.com. 

It wasn't all pretty for Thomas on the floor Friday night. In the first quarter, Thomas and Schroder were each assessed a technical foul after a heated exchange. Thomas inadvertently hit Schroder, who later apologized to the Atlanta point guard for that, per Brian Robb of Boston.com.

"I’m not going to let nobody slap me in my face," Schroder said after the game, per Jeff Schultz of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "I told him that. If you want to play like that, we’ll play like that. I was mad.”

Schroder was not pleased about the refs' decision, per SB Nation. The tweet has since been deleted:

“I didn’t mean to hit him," Thomas said, per Schultz. "He got mad and he was talking. But it’s playoff basketball. That’s what it’s about. I’m not going to back down from anybody and he knows that.”

In the end, Stevens thought it was an all-around great environment for the Boston faithful, per Doyle: