ATLANTA — The Celtics were relentless in [putting together a 52-point second quarter](https://www.masslive.com/celtics/2026/01/the-celtics-just-matched-nba-history-with-a-ridiculous-second-quarter-performance-vs-hawks.html) in their win over the Hawks on Saturday. While the State Farm Arena crowd tried to get the Hawks into the game, the C’s kept raining shots on the home team.
[The C’s walked away with a 132-106 win over the Hawks](https://www.masslive.com/celtics/2026/01/4-takeaways-as-celtics-demolish-hawks-sam-hauser-comes-close-to-history.html) with the final result never in question after the second quarter. The Hawks made the score look respectable by the final buzzer, but the C’s had emptied the bench by the fourth quarter. Jaylen Brown, who had a game-high 41 points, broke down what went well for the C’s.
“Just being aggressive,” Brown said. “Got to the free throw line a fair amount, made some shots, and just had it rolling a little bit. Sam (Hauser) had it rolling. I had it rolling. So that second quarter, when we are playing in sync and are in alignment, we’re kind of tough to stop.”
Brown had it going early, scoring 29 points in the first half alone. While he said he doesn’t love playing in front of his hometown crowd, the Celtics fans in attendance made sure to show some love. There were multiple times where Brown got MVP chants when he was at the free throw line, even though he was on the road.
By the fourth quarter, the only question was whether Hauser was going to set a new Celtics franchise record. He had made 10 3-pointers on the night, just one shy of Marcus Smart’s record of single-game 3-point makes. But then Hauser missed six straight 3s, once again narrowly missing out, though he finished with 30 points.
“At that point it was just like, let’s get them up, let’s see what happens,” Hauser said. “And then I got dead tired. The last couple, they were on line, they were just way short. So it is what it is. I’m glad Joe (Mazzulla) left me in to try. Appreciate my teammates for just kind of giving me the ball and being okay with that and let me kind of just throw them up there. But maybe next time.”
The Celtics slowed down in the fourth quarter, which is why the point total wasn’t as gaudy as it could’ve been earlier in the night. But when the starters were still in the game, they got whatever they wanted on the offensive end. It was an impressive performance for the Celtics ahead of their showdown against the East-best Pistons on Monday in Detroit.
“Just trying to breathe,” Brown said. “Sometimes you get tired physically, and that’s what causes you to miss. It don’t really be the defense sometimes. You just have a hard time catching your breath. I try to focus on my breathing and just come out and be aggressive.”