By Kevin Henkin

It’s almost as if those two games in Atlanta never happened.

In Game 5, much like their first two games of the series on their home court, the Boston Celtics submitted a methodical, defense-driven performance that drove the Atlanta Hawks down to the tune of a 110-85 drubbing.

The Hawks offered a couple stretches of defiance, most notably with a 9-0 run that reduced the Celtics’ 15 point lead at the half to 8 in the early part of the third quarter. Otherwise, Boston was able to maintain their steady pressure throughout most of the game, outscoring the Hawks in each of the four quarters.

Boston’s Big Three of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen all played well, combining for 61 points before earning an early exit from the game in the fourth quarter. Pierce came out strong with 10 points in the first quarter and it was Ray Allen’s shooting in the third quarter that drove the Celtics offense and helped them to maintain a comfortable lead.

The bigger difference from the Atlanta games, however, was the stronger contribution from Boston’s supporting cast. Leon Powe in particular contributed a monster effort, especially in the first half, after a dismal performance in Atlanta. Powe set the tone early on the offensive glass and also drew two key charges, the second of which sent Hawks star Joe Johnson to the bench with early foul trouble and thus stalled the Hawks offense. Sam Cassell also recovered from his poor play on the road by hitting a series of daggers, finishing with an uber-efficient 13 points on 6-8 shooting in under 15 minutes.

There was again a large disparity in freebies allocated, with Atlanta earning 29 trips to the line versus Boston’s 15 (it was 23 to 9 in Atlanta’s favor after three quarters). Even with that benefit, though, Atlanta wasn‘t able to overcome Boston’s strong play on both ends of the court.

Perhaps the defining moment of the game for me was halfway into the first quarter. Garnett had been jawing with Josh Smith after some back-and-forth physical play between the two big men and he goaded Smith into taking an ill-advised 18 foot fall away. After Boston controlled the rebound, Garnett waited for a pick on Smith to step into an open 18 footer of his own, which he sunk. And therein lies the difference between a very talented and athletic young man and a very talented older veteran. In short, the Hawks have some nice players but they’re just not ready for this yet.

Now this curious series heads back to Atlanta for some more drama. This is where it gets interesting again because no one is surprised when the Celtics beat the Hawks at home. The surprise comes when the 66 win team gets whipped by the 37 win team, regardless of the fact that it’s on the road.

It seems clear that the Hawks cannot beat Boston at home so Game 6 isn’t exactly considered a must-win for the Celtics. Regardless, Boston’s older veteran squad would benefit from an early wrap-up on Friday night, especially considering that the Washington Wizards were able to stay alive by beating an uninspired Cavaliers squad in Cleveland. To earn that Game 7 bye, the Celtics will be challenged to find a way to win on the road against a team that clearly takes on a far more dangerous persona on their own home court. By now, nobody expects the Hawks to go gentle into that good night in front of their own fans. It’s back to the trenches and it will have to another war of northern aggression for the Celtics to come away with the victory.

By Kevin Henkin

I confess, I have Phil Jackson on the brain these days.

Maybe it’s because I’m just about to finish reading a book by Jackson called The Last Season: A Team in Search of its Soul. The book is about the Lakers and their journey through their doomed 2003-04 season. If you recall, that was the year that both Karl Malone and Gary Payton jumped on board for their own chance at title glory. Their arrival caused many pundits to laud the Lakers as title favorites. As we now know, of course, the Lakers lost in the Finals that year and it wasn’t even Jackson’s last season at the helm because he returned a mere year later. Although now stale, Jackson’s series of ramblings in that book nonetheless have me thinking quite a bit about the Celtics and their current predicament.

One of the constant themes throughout Jackson’s book is his repeated assertion that the NBA regular season is borderline meaningless. It’s how he justifies allowing his cornerstone big man Shaquille O’Neal to annually show up to camp out of shape and to vacation on the court (and frequently off it) through much of the eighty-two regular season games. Such an attitude may be offensive to basketball purists (including, ironically enough, Jackson’s own Chicago Bulls teams) but there just may be a wise and pragmatic upside to such a belief system. Or, to put it another way, there may be a very real downside to taking abundant success in the regular season too seriously.

Exhibit A: Your own Boston Celtics. If you recall, this was a team that faced its own fair share of doubters entering into their first season together. Then the games began and those doubters were forced back into the shadows, humbled by how wrong they had been proven to be. Sixty-six wins later, the Celtics were considered favorites heading into the playoffs. The first two games of the series against the Hawks showed more of that same success. During those games, one had the sense that the Hawks were cowed by the overwhelming odds that had been laid against them.

Then it happened. The Hawks returned home, unexpectedly became emboldened by their youthful athleticism and their feisty home crowd, and they realized that Boston’s 66 six regular season wins versus their own 37 meant that Boston had earned one more game at home in the best of seven series, and absolutely nothing else besides.

The truth is, the Celtics did take their regular season games more seriously than most of their opponents because their primary players were out to prove something. Consider the fact that all three of the Celtics’ big stars played for very mediocre teams last season. As a result, all three were finding their impressive legacies tarnished. They therefore came into this season seeking redemption and had seemingly been handed it without yet proving a damned thing in the playoffs.

When the Hawks eventually landed their first haymaker on the chin of the Celtics in Game 3, Boston’s players appeared almost stunned, as if to say, “Who do you young upstarts think you are? Don’t you read the papers? We’ve already been unanimously anointed by the media to be the winners of this series. Haven’t you heard? These games are a mere formality. WE WON SIXTY-SIX GAMES!!!”

Now the series stands at two games apiece and the Hawks know exactly what the Golden State Warriors knew last year, namely that playoff games are won in the trenches, not on the pages of a newspaper. That an impressive regular season pedigree means nothing beyond the benefit of that extra game at home. All it takes then is to win one of those vaunted road games and the terrific regular season of your opponent becomes reduced to nothingness or, perhaps more fitting, an embarrassing footnote.

Now here we are heading into Game 5 and the Celtics find themselves, much like the 2004 Lakers, a team in search of its soul. That Lakers team, despite their talented veterans, never found their soul because they never really decided who they were. Was it Kobe’s team or Shaq’s? Were they committed to the Triangle Offense or to Gary Payton’s insistence on being the floor general? Too many questions remained unanswered and they eventually lost despite their lofty expectations.

The Celtics now have some decisions to make, too. Are they really as defense-minded as they’ve established themselves to be during the regular season, because that reputation has suffered considerably over the last two games. Players on defensive-minded teams, after all, don’t stall to watch their own shots fall or complain to officials before racing back to cover their man on the other end. Faced with the challenge of a young, long and athletically superior team, are the Celtics willing to offset that athleticism by banging hard down low and by adding an additional emphasis on rebounding (and that’s wire-to-wire, guys, not in spurts)? Is the coaching staff willing to shift strategies despite what worked so well for them during the regular season? For example, considering that James Posey is the team’s only other consistently effective perimeter defender (and even he looks like he’s lost a step of late), are they finally willing to re-insert Tony Allen back into the rotation?

This truly is gut check time for the New Big Three, especially considering how they’ve largely been abandoned by their supporting cast these past two games. Their respective legacies couldn’t fairly be defined by their losing teams of recent years but all’s fair to throw those stones if they falter now. In short, it’s time for the Celtics to answer those questions in order to find their collective soul, to find out who they really are.

By Shirley Coshatt

The Celtics came out strong to start the game. Atter shooting their way to a 16-3 lead in the first three minutes, it seemed as though Game 3 had indeed served as a wake up call for them. Then, the momentum swung back to the home team, driven in part by the two fouls apiece picked up by Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo. The Celtics’ shooting then went cold. After starting the game at 6-7, they then went 3-10 and allowed the Hawks to go on a 9-0 run. Garnett finally hit a jumper to temprarily stop the bleeding but the kids from Atlanta counterpunched again and tied the game at 24. By the end of the quarter, the Hawks led 29-24.

The Celtics started the second with a lineup of Leon Powe, James Posey, Ray Allen, Big Baby Davis and Sam Cassell. The Hawks built further on their lead, which grew to 37-29 with 8:01 left in the half. Garnett then drove to the hoop and caught ZaZa Pachulia with an elbow. Pachulia took offense and went none-to-nose with the Celtics’ star, throwing in an apparent head butt for good measure. To Garnett’s credit, he backed off and kept his arms to his side, but Sam Cassell and Joe Johnson then became engaged until the officials and coaching stafgs interceded. Garnett was assessed a technical for the elbow he threw and Pachulia, Cassell, and Johnson were all given technicals for their part in the fray. Later, they showed film of Kendrick Perkins and Marvin Williams both stepping one step on the court before being pushed back by the coaches. It is possible that the league may suspend them for that one step but that decision will come later. After the technicals, the Celtics crawled back to within 3 as the score at the half WAs 51-48.

The Celtics started off strong in the third quarter as Garnett quickly converted a layup, giving Boston their first lead since the first quarter, at 55-53 with nine minutes to go in the third. It seemed as though the Celtics had at last righted their ship as they began to play consistent defense again and convert with flow on offense. They ended the third quarter with a 75-65 lead.

It didn’t take long for that hard-fought lead to evaporate. The Hawks started the quarter on an 8-0 run and kept coming at the Celtics until they eventually tied the game at 79 and then took the lead for good at 81-79 with seven minutes left in the third. At that point, The Joe Johnson Show was officially underway. The former Celtic (as you’ve heard roughly 58,000 by now) outright dominated the team that drafted him. If there were any lingering doubts about Johnson as a bona fide star, they disappeared with his fourth quarter performance last night. The Celtics simply had no answer for him on defense and could not match his production at the other end of the floor. In the rare instances when the Hawks missed in the final frame, one of their teammates was usually within position to grab the rebound and start the possession anew. The poise that was absent from the Hawks in the first two games of the series was in full view last night and it was the veteran Celtics squad who looked lost in the woods down the stretch. The final score was Hawks 97 and Celtics 92.

Of note, the officiating in this game was inconsistent and often one-sided, as evidenced by the free throw disparity. The Celtics shot 18 free throws while the Hawks shot 33. Any momentum that the Celtics might have started was quickly stopped by touch fouls while they were being hit and grabbed at the other end.

In fact, the non-call on Josh Smith’s body bump on Rajon Rondo’s breakaway layup could be viewed as the turning point of the first quarter. The play was essentially a four point swing because the Hawks quickly converted on the subsequent five-on-four mismatch with Rondo still knocked to the floor. The play also fired up a tame crowd and the game immediaately took a different tone afterwards. All of that said, the officials didn’t lose this game for the Celtics, who once again failed in their team defense in three of the four quarters.

Overall, they allowed the Hawks to shoot 48% while shooting only 41% themselves. Defense is the key to the playoffs and while the Celtics had the best defense in the regular season, we didn’t see much of it in these two games in Atlanta. Boston was also out-rebounded 37-36 for the game after holding a 9 rebound edge in the first quarter. Rebounding shows effort and desire and it wasn’t there for the Celtics in the fourth quarter especially. Lastly, the Celtics were especially woeful at the stripe, missing 8 of their 18 freebies.

The Celtics must now regroup as they head home with a series tied that they were expected to sweep. Despite the home court advaantage, they must make adjustments and win Game 5, or their dream season may quickly turn into a nightmare.

By Kevin Henkin

It’s happening again. Rest assured that the techies are hot on the trail for a fix but after receiving a couple of erroneously delivered e-mails last week (see Matt Richardson’s column on Friday), we’ve now mysteriously received a blog entry from a certain local sportscaster. Your thoughts? Hey, who’s better than me with a lost blog entry? Anyway, in the spirit of professional courtesy, we’ve decided to run the lost entry so that it will see the light of day and receive the immense amount of attention that it truly deserves.

Why Mike Bibby is a Ginormous Idiot
Apr 26, 2008 | 6:32 PM

Wow the Celtics are on the verge of winning their first playoff series in like five years. This is an exciting time for people who watch basketball and like the Celtics. Right now I am sitting in Radio City Music Hall where I understand music is normally played but today is being used to host the NFL Draft where NFL teams draft players to play for their teams during football games. We are doing the “feeding run thingamajig” for our newscast tonight. It’s a complicated process. Thankfully, I usually just have to read the big words. Speaking of the newscast tonight is going to feature a scandalous story related to a certain Boston sports figure person (you’ll just have to watch!).

It’s 6:30 p.m. our time here in New York (I’m not sure what time it is in Boston). We took the Acela train down to the city this time. I admit I can get a little nervous on trains because they can get robbed, like what happened with Butch Cassidy and his gang. Anyway, the reason I’m doing this update is not to talk about dangerous trains or the NFL musical draft but to point out that Mike Bibby is an idiot who says and does many idiotic things.

Case in point. Mike Bibby said last week that Boston fans were bandwagon jumpers who didn’t fill the building when he came to Boston last year. If you remember, the Celtics lost a lot of games last year and so a lot of people either stopped coming to the games or they feel asleep during them. That wasn’t their fault. Nobody likes watching basketball teams who lose a ton of games, especially when the Patriots and Red Sox are winning trophies and riding around in those big boats with the wheels on the bottom all the time. At the end of the day, we can say what we want about our fans but Mike Bibby can’t because he doesn’t even live here! I say that until he buys some local real estate or at least rents an apartment around here, he should keep his big fat mouth shut. Then again this is a free country, right? Some people say Mike Bibby is legally within his rights to say bad things about Boston fans. I’m not so sure about that. How do you feel?

To me the most sad part about all of this is that now we have to expect that Eddie House’s kids are going to grow up to be half-idiots because House is married to Bibby’s sister and they share some similar DNA. This is what bothers me more than anything because when it affects the children, it makes a bad situation even more bad in that way. Plus, educating them will cost more of our tax dollars now, which is bad for all of us.

But back to Mike Bibby. In a way, I know this is sacrilegious but I’m kind of hoping that the Celtics lose one of their games so Bibby will have to play another game in Boston and get insulted by the fans again. I can vouch first hand for the passion, vulgarity, creativity and slightly threatening tone that Boston fans can take when they really don’t like you. They can really get it going when they are mad. Is it wrong to file restraining orders against certain fans? Is it wrong to root for your team to lose so a bad guy can get booed? I don’t think so. How about you?

Your thoughts?

By Shirley Coshatt

The Celtics joined the list of teams that lost game 3 after being up 2-0. The Celtics were expected to sweep the Hawks due to the huge disparity in talent and depth between the two teams, but a combination of the Hawks athleticism and desire and the Celtics lack of focus gave game three to the home team putting the series at 2-1 instead of 3-0.

The Hawks very obviously wanted this game more than the Celtics. They came out strong to begin the game and kept up their intensity for 48 minutes. They used their speed and athleticism to disrupt the Celtics game plan on both ends of the floor. The Hawks out played the Celtics who looked a step slow on both offense and defense.

From the start, you could tell that the game would be a physical one. With just 1 minute gone in the first quarter, Perk was hit in the nose by Horford and had to leave the game with a bloody nose. He did return with both nostrils packed with cotton and played 10 minutes in the first half but played only 18 minutes in the game finishing with 10 points, 2 rebounds and 1 block. Without Perk’s defense inside, the Hawks seemed to get to the hoop at will.

The Celtics were down by as many as 9 points in the first half but came back to tie the game at 56 at the half. The start of the third quarter was delayed for several minutes while they tried to fix a shot clock malfunction. They started the quarter with no shot clocks running and the PA announcer counting down the seconds. When the third quarter finally started, the Celtics were completely out played by the Hawks. They missed 10 shots in a row during one stretch and allowed the Hawks way too many open shots. The third quarter ended with the Celtics down 84-74. The lead ballooned to 15 in the fourth quarter before the Celtics cut it to 9 for the final score of 102-93.

Kevin Garnett was the high scorer for the Celtics finishing with 32 points and 10 rebounds. Pierce had 17 points, 2 rebounds, and 8 assists and didn’t seem to be bothered by the back injury he suffered in game 2 although he shot just 5-13. At the end of the fourth quarter, Pierce went for a steal from Al Horford and ended up on the floor as Horford went past and scored the basket. On his way by, Horford was taunting Pierce who was furious. I can imagine that Pierce will remember those words as motivation for the rest of the series. Ray Allen struggled with his shot in this game as he went 5-14 for 13 points with 5 rebounds and 4 assists.

Mike Bibby put his game where his mouth has been as he out played Rondo for the first time in the series. He finished with 12 points and 8 assists and more importantly, his team got the win. Rondo had 10 points, 2 rebounds, and 4 assists. The Celtics settled for too many quick shots and didn’t move the ball to find the open man. It seemed as though each player was trying to do too much and the team concept went right out the window along with the team defense that has made them so dominant during the season.

The Celtics defense, which has been the best in the league just wasn’t there tonight. The Hawks shot 47% from the field and 56% from beyond the arc while holding the Celtics to 44% shooting. The Hawks were able to get to the hoop for easy dunks and layups throughout the game as well as get open shots on the perimeter. The Celtics were also out-rebounded 43-35 which shows of a lack of effort on their part since rebounding is mostly effort and desire. The team that wins the rebounding battle is the team that wants the game more.

The Hawks deserved this win as they outplayed the Celtics on both ends of the court. The Celtics lost their focus in this game but this loss should serve as motivation for them to regroup and come out even more focused for the rest of the series and playoffs.

By Matt Richardson

Couple of quick reflections following Wednesday night’s game:

In my post from earlier this week, I talked about Kendrick Perkins making tough hoops around the basket. On Wednesday night, he only had 2 field goals but they were both beauties. On the first one, he had a mismatch down on the block but immediately got doubled. In response, he spun baseline and away from the double team for an easy basket. As it happened, I remember thinking, “Wow, nice move”. Then, early in the third quarter, he corralled an offensive rebound off a Rajon Rondo miss (one of those tough little in-the-lane floaters that he recently purchased from the Sherman Douglas catalogue) and then muscled up to the hoop while getting fouled (and subsequently knocking down the free throw). Very nice work on that one as well. Checking the box score, I see Perkins complemented those two hoops, along with 4 of 5 free throws and 9 boards. Perkins also teamed up with Kevin Garnett to scare all of the Hawks bigs away from the paint (Yes, Josh Smith and Al Horford, I’m talking about your combined 7-22 shooting). Having said all of this, I promise to never again submit a post about a guy who made 2 baskets. Now please excuse me while I hand-wash my #43 jersey and gently fold it up until Saturday.

Also, a few thoughts on our just-recognized Defensive Player of the Year: Before I get there, though, a quick aside. The Defensive Player of the Year Award is sponsored by Kia Motors. Did you happen to see the video of Garnett checking out the Kia SUV that was presented to him for winning the award? In a word: Hysterical. He was looking at it as if to figure out whether or not it would fit into the back seat of his S 600. Couldn’t Kia have designed some sort of massive luxury SUV just for this purpose? If you know you are sponsoring an award that will result in you giving a vehicle to an NBA player, do you really want that vehicle to be a compact SUV? Were they secretly hoping that either Nate Robinson or Earl Boykins would win the award? Anyway, to avoid further potential embarrassment, Garnett graciously donated his pocket SUV to charity.

Anyway, back on point, after Perkins hit that second hoop off the offensive rebound, he was pretty fired up. Garnett, however, was equally amped, to the point of bear-hugging and lifting Perkins off the ground (Note to KG: Take it easy on the back there, big fella). Garnett then followed Perkins around the floor, yelling at him, slapping him on the head, etc. etc. It was absolutely fantastic. The next time I make a big play at work I want my boss to follow me around for five minutes whooping it up, holding his tie away from his chest and yelling “Now that’s what I’m talking about!!!”

In other developments, I’ve temporarily been handed the responsibility of sifting through our mailbag and, curiously enough, we’ve had a couple of mistaken deliveries that were intended for some other sports writer named Bill. Anyway, I’ve taken it upon myself to meet the expectations of the readers by filling in for this “Bill” and answering these questions to him to the best of my ability. Onto the questions…

Reader: Bill, my buddies and I were watching the season finale of “One Tree Hill” last week and noted the important role that Peyton’s Mercury Comet played in the story line. It got us to thinking about the most important car in TV history. After much debate and several drinking games centered around ED medication ads, we came up with the greatest car in TV history: Magnum’s Ferrari. It was easily the coolest car on TV on one of the coolest shows, but also was important to many of the plots, like the time he had to race the GTO, or the time it got scratched and Higgins was pissed. Your thoughts?

Matt: Great question. I admittedly don’t know a ton about cars as I drive a Prius and the best car I’ve ever owned was a green Chrysler Cordoba with rich Corinthian leather. My buddy Footprint threw up in it after a Marathon Monday drinking binge and I had to sell it to Joe the Alcoholic Counter Guy, who, ummm, didn’t seem to notice the smell. As for the Top TV car, Magnum’s Ferrari is definitely in the Top 5. I’d also add in BA Barracus’ van from the A-Team, KITT from Knight Rider (the first metro-sexual car) and that race car thing from Hardcastle and McCormick. But the number one TV car in history, and I will not debate this, is the General Lee. First of all, it was a rolling homage to the Confederacy, with the flag on the roof, the Dixie horn (da na na na na da na na na na nah), and the “01” number representing the supremacy of the Aryan race (Okay, I made that last part up). It was also a timeless classic muscle car (a ’69 Dodge Charger), and the most indestructible car since the Trans Am in Smokey and the Bandit. Add in the fact that the doors didn’t open (Magnum didn’t always use the doors, but at least they opened) and we have our winner. In fact, I just named my Prius “Daisy” in honor of the Dukes. By the way, can somebody pass me a beer? A Levitra add just came on.

Reader: Bill, I loved your what-if column on Chris Webber. I especially loved how you said he didn’t get derailed by injuries like other players, yet went on to quote a litany of injuries and missed games. I also liked that you panned the Webber for the Penny trade, yet ignored the fact that injuries derailed Penny too. And I had to giggle at your throwaway line “you can always find guards”… Once-in-a-generation super athletic big point guards with court savvy and shooting range to pair with a franchise big man are easy to come by? Really? Can you point me in the right direction so that my team can pick up a couple? But enough fawning. Onto my question: Isn’t AC Green an interesting what-if? Would he really have been a virgin well into his thirties if his career had gone differently?

Matt: This might be the greatest “what if” question of all time. The Lakers team that AC played for was an unbelievably bad scenario for him. Clearly, Magic had the chops with the ladies, much to his wife’s chagrin, but the rest of that team did not give AC the support he needed to be a player. Let’s start with Kareem. It’s well known that he was a closet case and couldn’t close the deal. Women obviously flocked to him, but he would inevitably bore them to death by bringing up his stalled acting career and complaining about the lack of Best Supporting Actor consideration for his role in Airplane! Every time a prospect ran away as soon as he turned his back to order another drink, he became increasingly bitter. Then you had Kurt Rambis, who, umm, actually let’s just move on. Michael Cooper was quietly gay (notice how he loved playing really tight, physical defense? And don’t think people haven’t noticed, Bruce Bowen), and Byron Scott had game, but as Tupac famously said, he didn’t like to pack his &*^% on a business trip.

But what if AC had been drafted five years later by Seattle? He could’ve partnered up with Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton, two legendary carousers with plenty of wealth to share. And what if Travis Henry was older and decided to play basketball and ended up in Seattle ? And you know the X-Man was hanging around the periphery, showing up at the clubs, etc… Clearly, under that plausible scenario, AC would’ve had many positive role models. Finally it’s a little known fact that AC is the illegitimate son of Joe Namath, so it wouldn’t have taken much to activate the most potent philandering gene ever. In retrospect, it’s a good thing AC didn’t drink or he might have tried to kiss Cheryl Miller.

Yup, these are someone else’s readers.

By Kevin Henkin

Hey, it’s like déjà vu. Hey, it’s like déjà vu.

In Game 2 of the first round series between the Atlanta Hawks and the Boston Celtics, it was more of the same as already witnessed in Game 1. The Celtics won the battle in every conceivable area of the game, most notably on team defense, rebounding and ball management, not to mention the additional battles of will and poise. They also won, of course, on point total, by a score of 96-77. If you didn’t happen to watch the game, trust me when I tell you that it wasn’t even as close as the lopsided score indicates.

The only real dramas that unfolded over the course of the evening were the plotlines of whether Mike Bibby would crack under the pressure (he looked agitated both by the crowd offended by his needless comments about them and his own continued poor performance) and the curious reasoning behind why Celtics Coach Doc Rivers insisted on leaving in his stars on the floor far too late into the game, well after the imminent victory was clearly under wraps. On the latter point, Rivers didn’t remove Paul Pierce until 3:01 remaining in the fourth (the Celtics were up by 21 at that point) nor Kevin Garnett until 2:20 remaining despite the fact that Hawk Al Horford clearly had some bones to pick and the threat of a fracas between the players seemed real. Garnett ended up with just a shade under 35 minutes for the night and Pierce logged 28 despite suffering a lower back strain that led him out of the game and into the locker room during the first half. True, the teams won’t play again until Saturday but the seemingly lax care of his two primary stars was uncharacteristic for Rivers, who has otherwise demonstrated a deft touch in managing the workload of his aging veterans this season.

As for the competition between the two teams, Dick Stockton of TNT put it well enough in stating at one point in the second half, “The Atlanta Hawks have run into a buzz saw here.” The most important numbers to come away with to get a sense of the one-sided nature of the game are as follows:

– Atlanta had 10 assists on 23 baskets versus Boston’s 23 on 35.
– Atlanta turned the ball over 22 times as compared to Boston’s 14.
– Atlanta shot 38.3% overall and 0-5 from behind the arc whereas Boston shot a subpar 41.7% but made up for it by hitting 7 of 18 from deep waters.
– Boston also won on the glass with 57 rebounds versus Atlanta’s 45.

The only category that Atlanta came out favorable was in the frequency of their trips to the line, with 40 freebies as compared to Boston’s 26. The disparity was largely driven by the officiating crew’s sudden and inexplicable inability to be able to decipher the difference between a charge and a blocking foul, at least on one end of the floor. Regardless, it wasn’t enough of a difference to help the hapless Hawks, who at times looked lost, especially in those moments following the several occasions in which Boston capitalized on some obvious breakdowns in Atlanta’s team defense.

Outside of statistics, however, one still gets the slightly uneasy sense that the Celtics are playing down to their competition. TNT showed a clip of Doc Rivers speaking to his team just before the game, pointing out that the Hawks hadn’t seen the best of Boston in Game 1. He was right. If he says it again on Saturday, he’ll be right again because tonight’s end result had as much to do with Atlanta’s ineptness as Boston’s adequate if occasionally spotty play. For those of us who watched this Celtics team all season long, we’re accustomed to and still waiting for better. It’s not an imminent need yet because better isn’t really necessary to beat this young Atlanta squad. Nonetheless, it’s always an encouraging feeling to know that your team is playing its best ball at the right time of year, heading into a new series against a more challenging opponent.

This isn’t a call to panic, not even close, but rather just a calmly made observation. It’s what Boston fans will be focused on for the remainder of this series. It’s a luxury for sure, to be able to sit back and look at the bigger picture rather than fret over the possibility of losing in the series presently underway. Boston’s ability (or not) to raise their game back to the next level is the real remaining drama here now because the change in venue to Atlanta isn’t likely to be enough to alter the results that we’ve seen between these two teams thus far. Boston is indeed a buzz saw and Atlanta is, well, a work in progress. This will be a useful learning experience for them in the long run. In the short-term, I’m sure it’s just an exercise in frustration. Hopefully, from Boston’s perspective anyway, that frustration doesn’t lead to a will and intent to injure.

Two games to go. Get the job done in the workmanlike fashion that has defined the Celtics’ approach thus far in the series, play a bit better and keep everyone healthy. That’s where the priorities now lie for the men in green. Until Saturday…

By Matt Richardson

Don’t you love on sports radio when the hosts start arguing about who made what prediction (I knew the B’s would force a game 7!!!), and finally somebody says “pull the tapes”. It seems like they never actually pull the tapes, but we here at FCP apparently have a better production team. So as the playoffs commence with the C’s scrimmaging against Atlanta for 4-5 games, I thought it might be an interesting time to review a couple of the things I wrote early in the year (and no, we’re not going to review my claim that the C’s intended to stand pat after the Ray Allen trade). On to the tapes…

The “Other” Starters

I wrote: A couple of thoughts on Rondo and Perkins. What a position to suddenly find themselves in, default starters on a team variously ticketed to the playoffs, the Eastern Conference Finals, and even the NBA finals. The way I see it though, these guys are in very different situations. Perk, to me, is in a no lose situation. His name was never bandied about in trade talks, and certainly no trades that I’m aware of broke down or hit a snag due to the Celtics unwillingness to part with their “Center of the future”. Heading into his 5th year, Perk is faced with extremely low expectations. Rebound. Play defense. Throw his body around. That is pretty much it. The upside there is huge. He should be able to do the above, but in addition to that, can you imagine how many easy looks he is going to get down low when the defense collapses on Garnett in the post or Pierce and Rondo on drives? How many uncontested dunks is he looking at a game? 4? 7? Not to mention easy offensive rebounds/putbacks. I would not be surprised at all to be reading a “Kendrick Perkins: The Overnight Success” feature come January.

I’d say that Perk answered the bell this season; he wasn’t fantastic, but he was solid and dependable. Checking his stats I was surprised to see he started 78 games, or 95%, after starting a career high 53 last season, an improvement of 47%. He averaged 24 minutes with 7 points on .615 shooting (or roughly 3 dunks per game, so I was a little heavy on that one) with 6 boards and 1.5 blocks. One thing that stuck out about Perk this year was his creativity around the hoop. He made tough contested hoops, up and unders, etc, not always 9 out of 10 in degree of difficulty, but he made lots of 6’s & 7’s, which I was very happy to see.

I also wrote: Rondo, on the other hand, faces considerably tougher sledding. First, he was declared all but untouchable by Danny Ainge. No pressure there. Second, while Perk is flying very much under the radar, Rondo enjoys no such anonymity. It’s up to him to make sure the offense hums along efficiently and oh by the way live up to his reputation as a defensive stopper on the other end of the floor. If this team isn’t clicking offensively after 3-4 weeks, a lot of people are going to be looking at Rondo and suggesting he isn’t up to the task; shades of Dustin Pedroia during the first 3-4 weeks of the Sox season. Turned out okay for Pedroia, lets hope for the same from Rondo.

Well they certainly didn’t have to worry about the “clicking after 3-4 weeks” part. Rondo by all accounts had an exceptional season. His stats are ho-hum (30 minutes, 10.6 points on .492 shooting, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, and 1.7 steals) but we’re not judging Rondo by stats. I think the best thing you can say about Rondo is that Sam Cassell now seems like a luxury, not a necessity. And I still think his dunk against Detroit was the signature play of the season. Everybody knew Ray Allen could hit game winning shots; we didn’t all know that Rondo could step up to the plate against our biggest conference competitor, understand a situation and emphatically make exactly the right play.

Paul Pierce

I wrote: I get the feeling that Paul Pierce has no idea what he’s in for. I think there were times when Antoine Walker pushed Pierce beyond his “I want to win but I don’t want to work too hard at it” credo, and Walker is a guy who routinely stays out too late, gets robbed at gunpoint and fails to meet minimum body fat guidelines. To say that Garnett is going to explode Pierce’s comfortable little bubble is an understatement.

Simply put, Paul Pierce deserves to take a bow for the way he played and conducted himself this year. Before the season, when everything looked good but we didn’t yet know, there was a definite undercurrent that went something like: if this season gets derailed by chemistry issues, chances are it will be Pierce that causes it. With that in mind, we could not have asked for a better season from Pierce. He has seemed more focused and goal oriented than at any other point in his career; he’s clearly recognized the opportunity he and the team have and he seems entirely intent on realizing it. Again you can’t judge him by stats; I thought maybe he would have set a career high in FG %, or a low in turnovers or something, but he didn’t have a career year in any category accept free throw percentage. Yet in many ways this seems like his best season, and I get the feeling he’d say it’s his best season, and that is where he has exceeded my expectations.

Editors’s Note: For those of you who are looking to attend any of the upcoming Celtics (but sold out) playoff games but don’t have tickets, readers of FCP have been offered a special promotion by eSellout.com. Specifically, if you buy tickets there and type in the excusive code BSMW, you’ll save 5% off the price of each ticket.

By Kevin Henkin

Since I’m at the game tonight, the best way for me to cover the action will be to run my typical series of stream-of-consciousness observations. Let’s skip the rest of the preamble and head straight towards my deepest (relatively speaking, of course) thoughts.

Pre-Game

While I’m walking past the entrance to the VIP parking lot on my way into the game, the passenger window of the next car in line reveals Boston’s own Lenny Clarke, who frantically waves someone over the car to chat with him. For those unaware, Lenny is an actor/comedian who looks a lot like Shelley Winters but isn’t quite as funny. Lenny also has a reputation for starring in television series that get cancelled soon thereafter his joining the cast (call it the “Ted McGinley Syndrome”). Considering this little reputational nuance, I’m wondering how wise it was for the Celtics to roll out the red carpet to this walking bad luck charm.

The Atlanta Hawks Media Guide introduces Head Coach Mike Woodson’s biography with the following paragraph: “It is quite an accomplishment for any sports team to participate in postseason action, and for the Atlanta Hawks and Head Coach Mike Woodson, the journey has sometimes been a long and difficult one.” Hmmm. Happy to be here, blah blah blah. After reading that little summary of the Hawks’ postseason berth, I’m officially thinking sweep.

Game time. The place is electric and crowd is beyond amped, filled with a Boston crowd that hasn’t witnessed a Celtics playoff squad with a legitimate chance at winning the title in well over twenty years. Let the games begin.

First Quarter

Less than four minutes in, the Celtics are up 8-2. Kendrick Perkins is due at the line following Atlanta’s first “calm down timeout”. The Hawks look scared, taking ill-advised shots against heavy defensive pressure. During the timeout, the scoreboard shows the score of the Detroit loss to Philadelphia. The crowd strongly approves of this result.

Rajon Rondo’s line with five minutes left: 6 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists. Mike Bibby, meanwhile has 0 points and 1 technical foul called for barking at the ref on his way into the second timeout. Rondo’s defense against the veteran Bibby has been stifling thus far.

After a bad pass from Leon Powe, Rondo pulls another one of his “throw the ball 100 mph against the nearest opponent so that it bounces out of bounds” plays The opponent in question is Mike Bibby, who is having a worse day than the German Swim Team.

Red Sox players Mike Lowell, Dustin Pedroia and Davis Ortiz are shown on the Jumbotron sitting front row courtside. Out of uniform, rather than the reigning American League Rookie of the Year, Pedroia looks like the kid brother in charge of rounding up beers and girls under threat of noogies and ridicule.

At the end of the quarter, the Celtics get sloppy on defense and let the Hawks back into the game. With two seconds left, Rondo hits an incredible shot from behind the backboard after drawing a foul but the refs don’t give him the continuation. Regardless, the floor general is hotter than Gisele Bundchen sitting on the surface of the sun. Score at the end of the first quarter: Celtics 29, Hawks 21.

Second Quarter

The second unit has allowed the Hawks to reach within two with ten left to play when Garnett comes into the game and immediately knocks down a jumper and returns The Force to its proper equilibrium.

Before being replaced by Rondo halfway through the quarter, Sam Cassell has led the Celtics back to an 11 point lead. This is where Boston’s depth is hard to beat.

Kevin Garnett picks up his third foul with 4:04 remaining. This is the best news that the Hawks have received all night.

At 3:39, Rondo draws a charge on Bibby, continuing to frustrate the veteran.

At 3:08, Al Horford draws a foul, hit’s the shot and converts the And 1. It’s not an original thought but I’ll remind everyone at this time that Al Horford is a smart, tough, savvy player who plays far beyond his limited rookie experience. He’s also playing a large role in keeping the Hawks in this game.

After a Joe Johnson three, James Posey responds seconds later with his own three, then grabs the rebound on the next defensive possession. This reminds me of the words of his former coach Pat Riley offered earlier this season in the bowels of this very building. After a drubbing by the Celtics, when asked to reflect on the loss of James Posey (due to salary cap considerations), Riley said, “James Posey is a big shot, big play, big time player.” True, that.

End of half, Celtics 49, Hawks 40. The Hawks are impressing with this unexpected hanging around act of theirs. The second half, of course, will be the far more revealing of the two.

Third Quarter

In the Hawks’ second possession, after Atlanta keeps the ball after back-to-back offensive rebounds, Celtics Assistant Coach and resident defensive guru looks like he’s going to rush the floor with a baseball bat for a little extra “coaching”.

At 7:47, Rondo in transition feeds Ray Allen with a perfect pass where he is positioned just behind the arc. Swish, followed by Atlanta’s first “calm down timeout” of the second half.

Three minutes left in the quarter and the Celtics are up by 14. A fair amount of misses on open looks and a lack of boxing out by the Celtics are the primary reasons that the game remains somewhat within reach.

After an airball by Rondo, he knocks down a three, a jumper and a sick runner across the lane to bring the lead to 18 by the end of the quarter (Celtics 73, Hawks 55). Don’t look now but Lenny Clarke is getting ready to sing.

(P.S. Yes, that was a fat lady joke.)

Fourth Quarter

At 9:10, the Celtics get called for their fourth team foul (compared to Atlanta‘s one team foul). During the shots, Sam Cassell takes the time to explain to one of the refs what Dr. Naismith meant by the concept of fouls in his original design of the game.

With seven minutes left to go, Sam Cassell nails a dagger three and brings the lead to 21. The crowd is happy and relaxed.

Just when the crowd seems to be getting a little sleepy, Leon Powe wakes them up with an eye-popping jam against double coverage, including Josh Smith. I’m pretty sure Leon Powe could muscle a slam through a truck full of fast drying concrete. This from a guy who couldn’t get on the floor at the beginning of the season. Now he’s clearly an important (if unheralded outside of Boston) part of the rotation.

Instead of the fat lady singing, Doc Rivers officially signifies the win by replacing Kevin Garnett with Glen “Big Baby” Davis with 3:26 remaining and the Celtics up by 22. Garbage time has officially begun. The rest of the game will be on cruise control.

Final score: Celtics 104, Hawks 81.

In summary, the game pretty much went according to script. Atlanta showed some spunk and their athleticism bought them some time but at the end of the day, they played just well enough to lose by 20 against the team with the best record in the league on their home court. There’s no reason to expect any materially different result in Game 2 but, as snarky former Red Sox Manager Jimy Williams used to say, that’s why they play the games. Until Wednesday evening…

By Kevin Henkin

To be clear and upfront about things, I love baseball. Therefore, I’m not interested in making a case that basketball is better than baseball or vice versa. Rather, I’m simply remarking on the notable sea change in terms of how the Celtics and Red Sox are viewed, followed and supported by the Boston fandom at this time of year. Suddenly, one has to wonder what it’s going to be like around here once the NBA playoffs begin because it’s been years, YEARS since the Red Sox have had to treat their cross-town basketball rivals as serious competition in the business sense.

Over the last two years in particular, the springtime version of the Celtics have provided absolutely zero competition for the Red Sox and the abundant fanfare that annually surrounds them as their season officially opens. Last spring, those few of us who were masochistic enough to be still watching the Celtics mostly viewed their games at the end of the season as odd scientific experiments. The focus was far more on the development of individual young players and how certain combinations of them worked together rather than on their slim collective chances at victory. Far gone by then was any serious rooting interest. In fact, it was the worst kept in sports that most Celtics fans were rooting against their team so that they could later win in the draft.

Fast forward a year, however, and the Celtics are actually in a position to dominate the sports scene away from a team that has become accustomed to ruling the roost when the flowers bud and the grass greens. And how could the Celtics not dominate under these circumstances? The Red Sox still have 154 games to play before their hopeful berth into the post-season is earned whereas the Celtics are living very much in the urgency of the now, especially when you consider the fact that they are among a handful of serious contenders for the crown. You also have to consider the disparate paces of the two games.

Every year, it’s an enormous adjustment for me to shift from watching basketball to baseball. Basketball is naturally fast-paced and at its best provides a continuous free flow of action. Baseball, on the other hand, is a game of evenly spaced moments. Sometimes, particularly in the early season, I find myself agitated by the long spaces that can occur in between those moments, especially when the pitchers and batters lengthen them by stepping off the mound or out of the batters box. This feeling of maddening impatience generally falls away as the season progresses and the weather warms to the point where the languid pace of a well-played baseball game becomes as fitting as a lime in a Corona.

Until that happens, though? There’s honestly no way that a 162nd slice of a baseball season with its own playoff rounds a distant six months away can even remotely match up against the urgency of an NBA playoff game, where every bounce, every floated pass, every hard fought step for potion in the paint catches in your throat and quickens your heart for minutes at a time. As I said, I love baseball as much as the next guy. That said, I think I’m going to have to temporarily put that romance on hold, at least until the resonance from these upcoming Celtics playoff games fades to a relative hush.