Celtics, Cavs cruise to wins

Jayson Tatum starred as the Boston Celtics took a 2-0 series lead over the Atlanta Hawks in the NBA playoffs on Tuesday, while Darius Garland delivered a 32-point gem in Cleveland's series-tying rout of the New York Knicks.

Tatum finished with 29 points as the second-seeded Celtics overcame a slow start to dominate the seventh-seeded Hawks for a 119-106 victory at Boston's TD Garden.

"Playoffs are all about adjustments, trying to move on from game to game, seeing what you can do better — and I think we played better," Tatum said.

"We want to be peaking at this time of year. Everybody's healthy, playing the right way, playing really well — but we've got another level we can go to hopefully."

Atlanta jumped out to a 22-11 lead in the first quarter before Boston's offense clicked to give the Celtics a 28-25 lead heading into the second quarter.

Once in front, the Celtics never relinquished the advantage, opening up a 61-49 halftime lead and extending that to 20 points midway through the third quarter as Boston's defense shut down Atlanta's scoring.

Atlanta rallied to get within eight points of the Celtics in the fourth, but Boston pulled away convincingly to ensure it will take a 2-0 advantage into Game 3 in Atlanta on Friday.

Tatum finished with 29 points, while Derrick White provided offensive support with 26 points.

Dejounte Murray led Atlanta's scorers with 29 points while Trae Young finished with 24.

"They won, we lost — we've just got to be better," Atlanta playmaker Young said.

Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference playoffs on Tuesday, the Cleveland Cavaliers roared back into their series with the Knicks by registering a 107-90 win.

Reuters