Going into the first round of the NBA Playoffs, no one expected there to be much of a series between the Atlanta Hawks and Boston Celtics. Personally, I thought the Hawks would somehow sneak out a game, and if they played really well, maybe they could push the series to 6 games. But after the first two games in Boston, I started to doubt my own predictions.

Nonetheless, I bought tickets for Game 3. I predicted they would make the playoffs before the season began, so I had to support my team regardless of how they had played in Games 1 & 2. I was able to observe a lot that I might have missed during the broadcast, so I started observing things throughout the remainder of the series.

Here are 33 of my observations from the Hawks/Celtics series (some obvious and some that might not have been):

  1. The Hawks are most successful when they run and play uptempo. It suits their athletic ability best.
  2. After Game 4, the Celts did a great job of getting back on defense and not allowing Atlanta to use that abundance of athleticism.
  3. They must make them tougher in Georgia than in Germany b/c Zaza Pachulia is no Dirk Nowitzki.
  4. The altercation between Pachulia and Kevin Garnett about made me look like a genius after my article titled “Why Hawks Will Ruin Celtics Title Hopes.”
  5. The fact that no one was suspended should say something about how weak the commissioner’s office is. The precedent set when Amare Stoudamire and Boris Diaw were suspended seemed to slip David Stern’s mind. If you are going to make rules…then enforce them. Kendrick Perkins and Marvin Williams should have been suspended. I think one reason Perkins and Williams were not suspended is because if they were it would have brought a lot more attention to Garnett literally shoving a referee away from him and saying what appeared to be “Get the f*** off of me.” And David Stern just couldn’t let KG be suspended and let me be right b/c that could endanger the Celtics chances of making it to the NBA Finals to face Kobe and LA (which is what Stern is praying will happen).
  6. The Celtics had at least a 12 point lead in every game except Game 3.
  7. Mike Bibby was right about the Boston fans. Of course, the same bandwagon comments could have been said about the Atlanta fans or almost every team in the league. There are only one or two cities that would be able to fill the arena while having an awful team, especially over multiple years (as both ATL and BOS have had prior to this season).
  8. Kendrick Perkins must have really strong hips. He does a great job of using lateral movement to get into position to get rebounds.
  9. If Bibby was brought in for his playoff experience and clutch shooting, particularly in the playoffs, as was said when news of the trade was broken during the All-Star break, the trade was a bust. Bibby was atrocious on the road, and played fair at best in Atlanta. He was held to single digit scoring three times (only 2 pts in Game 7), had a combined 1:2 assist-to-turnover ratio in Games 1, 2, 4 & 5, shot 34% from the field (including only 29% from 3-point land), and most troublesome, he only shot 65.6% from the free throw line.
  10. After he went off in Game 4, Boston was determined that someone not named Joe Johnson would have to beat them for the remainder of the series.
  11. Johnson tried to do too much in Game 7. The Hawks won Game 6 b/c Johnson passed well out of the double team the Celtics sent at him every time he touched the ball.
  12. Ray Allen looked like his legs were tired at times late in games. Could be a problem in future series as both Garnett and Pierce have said they want Jesus Shuttlesworth to have the shot with the game on the line.
  13. James Posey is the C that hit the biggest long range shots. Every three he hit felt like it was a dagger.
  14. Every jumper Posey or Sam Cassell hit seemed demoralizing to Atlanta. Probably because they spent so much energy defending the Big Three throughout the series.
  15. Josh Smith had a bigger defensive impact than Kevin Garnett. I don’t know where he finished in the voting for Defensive Player of the Year, but I think someone should start strongly considering him for the award in the future.
  16. Speaking of Smith’s defense, will Rajon Rondo ever learn he needs to go up strong any time Smith might be behind him? Rondo was repeatedly swatted by J-Smoov, including at least two or three times Rondo went up as if it was a pre-game layup drill only to have Smith come from behind to throw it off the glass.
  17. KG did not assert himself enough on the offensive end. He settled way too often. It rarely seemed like he caught the ball anywhere near the block. I know he has great range for a man his size, but don’t become Rasheed Wallace.
  18. Al Horford backs down from no one. The “kid” is a beast. If he continues to progress, it should make for a good competition for Eastern Conference All-Star center with Superman Dwight Howard. I’d like to see him and Howard play one-on-one. That’d be a great old school battle in the trenches.
  19. Horford averaged a double-double in his first playoff series. Maybe, like Howard, he can follow that up with some 20-20 games in his second playoff series next season.
  20. There were 14 players on the teams’ rosters who weren’t even 10 years old when Cassell and P.J. Brown (2 of the 4 oldest players in the league) entered the league. Both were born in the 60s.
  21. I gained more respect for Paul Pierce for walking toward the Hawks bench after Horford pointed in his face, but that was lost with the gang sign and when he whined about every call the remainder of the series. The officiating was pretty terrible throughout, but come on Paul. Talk to the refs diplomatically. Don’t act like Kobe.
  22. The flagrant fouls called on Horford in Game 5 and Marvin Williams in Game 7 were both called wrong. Both attempted to hold up the Boston players they fouled. Horford’s was egregiously miscalled just because they didn’t want anything to happen after the Pachulia/Garnett affair in Game 4. If he even touched Garnett’s head, it was a slight graze. Williams, on the other hand, should have been a flagrant but only a flagrant 1. It looked worse than it was, and the refs should have changed it to a flagrant 1 after watching the replay (What’s the use in changing the rules if you aren’t going to put them into effect?).
  23. The homerism of the local broadcasts is nearly sickening. As much as I like for the announcers on TV or radio to actually know the players and have been with them throughout the season, they need to just call the game like it is. Listening to this video of the Pachulia/Garnett scuffle at about the 1:30 mark, you would think Pachulia dropped KG with a bar fight-esque headbutt instead of just getting into his face as he does. Then while listening to part of Game 7 on the radio, the Hawks broadcasters were just dogging the Boston fans because they were chanting stuff toward the Hawks rather than just cheering on their team. Just broadcast the game and let me know what’s happening, I don’t need all of your homeristic opinions.
  24. One of his teammates should have said something so Pachulia didn’t get drilled by KG, but it was a cheapshot. KG’s been known as a classy guy, but there’s no doubt that was a blatant cheapshot. He saw an opportunity to get a guy he doesn’t like, and he took it. I don’t have a problem with him taking the shot, but if you want to be a real tough guy, take the shot in Game 5 before it became a blowout or in Game 6. It doesn’t take much of a man to take a shot in a blowout.
  25. Marvin Williams is absolutely crucial to Atlanta’s future hopes of success. He needs to be able to knock down almost every open jumper teams give him when they help on Johnson and Smith. Otherwise, he has no hope of living up to his #2 draft status…which he still has the opportunity to. (He’s still only 21 — the youngest player on either roster in this series.)
  26. As a team, Boston needs to be more aggressive in driving to the basket.
  27. Pachulia had a really good series. Regardless of the altercation, he frustrated KG with strong defense, and even scored 9 points in Game 6.
  28. Whoever is in charge of putting together the videos played on the jumbotron in Atlanta did a fantastic job. The highlight being the Game 6 video of Rocky clips entertwined with clips of Pachulia in boxing attire. He looks similar to Sylvester Stallone, and it was fitting after the Game 4 run-in. The crowd went crazy for it.
  29. There is a reason the team with the best record gets the home court advantage.
  30. There was a reason why the Hawks had way more free throws than the Celts…Atlanta attacked the basket with a regularity and Boston didn’t.
  31. While Boston’s Big Three is getting up in age and may only have a couple of years remaining to dominate, Atlanta’s core nucleus (if kept together) of Johnson, Smith, Williams, and Horford could become a dynamic lineup that is hell to guard much as KG, Pierce, and Allen are now.
  32. Sometimes veterans get way too much love from the referees, not only in this series but throughout the NBA. A young role player who may play sparingly, such as Boston’s Glen Davis or Atlanta’s Solomon Jones, is hard pressed to make an impact in their few minutes because the referees won’t allow them. If someone like Jones comes in and blocks a veteran like Paul Pierce’s shot and there is a little bit of body contact but nothing that has been called, it’s as if the referees see it as an opportunity to appease the veteran, who has likely been whining incessantly.
  33. Another young guy, Leon Powe, could be destined to be a dominant player down on the low block. He showed some flashes of his capabilities during the series.

These are just 33 things that I saw or noticed throughout the series. Congratulations to the Celtics for advancing, and congratulations to the Hawks for getting back on the NBA map.

Shotgun Spratling

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