The Blue Workhorse

…And Observations from Game 3

After winning the Eastern Conference Atlantic Division and having the best record, not only in the Eastern Conference but in all of the NBA, during the regular season, the Boston Celtics entered the playoffs with aspirations of hoisting the golden trophy as NBA Champions this season.

However, it could be the lowly eighth-seeded below .500 Atlanta Hawks that ultimately lead to the all-powerful Celtics demise. How is that? How could a 37-45 squad bring down the dominant 66-16 team that beat them in five consecutive contests prior to Game 3 of the first round?

It all starts with how the games in the Boston/Atlanta series are being played. With such a wide discrepancy in overall records and the general #1 versus #8 overall mismatch, it is not implausible to believe the Celts came into this series expecting to walk through without much of a contest and without much effort. And that was exactly the case in the first two games in Boston as the Cs won by a combined 42 points taking it to the young Hawks.

However, young teams that have yet to fully mature do one of two things when they start losing badly — the ones that fade away fold while the teams that wind up being successful fight back. Which did the Hawks choose in Game 2 after Boston pounded them by 23 in Game 1?

They got physical. Paul Pierce got taken down hard early in Game 2 to set the tone and level of physicality that will be seen throughout the remainder of the series. The Celtics still dominated the game, but as the game wore on, it was evident the Hawks wouldn’t just bow down and quit (ala the Western Conference #8 seed in the Rocky Mountains). Instead, they were going to fight.

Add in Mike Bibby’s comments about the fans of Boston and the Celtics, frankly, appeared to be a little pissed off that the lowly #8 seed wasn’t going to go quietly (either on or off the court).

I was once again a ‘fortunate fan’ in that I was able to attend such a high intensity game. From the opening tip of the first NBA playoff game in Hot’Lanta in 9 years, it was evident the intensity in the stands and on the court was comparable to a highly contested conference semi-final or final rather than an opening round 1 vs 8 matchup. After watching the replay of the game late night on ESPN when I returned home, you could see what that intensity is leading more and more to — some tons of trash talk. Kevin Garnett has been constantly yapping at the Hawks’ players throughout the series (as KG normally does), but now Atlanta’s young studs are coming right back at him.

Bibby’s made comments both on and off the court. Josh Smith has been vocal. And then there is Al Horford’s youthful exuberance. Horford, who probably has the most postseason success of any Hawks’ player with his two national championships at the University of Florida, is mild-mannered off the court but brings a bevy of emotion to the hardwood.

In Game 3, Horford was given the ball on the block several times during a key stretch run for the Hawks in the third quarter, and after producing on several of the possessions, Horford was afraid to tell his coach or anyone that would listen as he ran down the court that he couldn’t be stopped by Kendrick Perkins or Glen Davis, who were guarding him.

Then after he knocked down a jumper for the final nail in the coffin for Atlanta’s 102-93 victory, Horford saw Pierce down on the court and, being the nice, young man that he is, informed the elder Pierce he had just made the shot since Pierce could not see whether the shot when in from his vantage point on the floor.

(Thanks to Odenized for the video.)

After leading for only 1:29 in the first two games with their biggest lead being only 2 points, Atlanta led almost the entirety of Game 3 and pushed their lead up to 15 points late in the 4th quarter. This all stemmed from the Hawks physicality, which is evidenced by the Hawks out rebounding Boston by 8, including a combined 30 boards from Joe Johnson, Smith, and Horford.

The increased level of physicality and verbal spewing being tossed back and forth is what I believe could ultimately lead to the Celtics demise this postseason. No, I don’t think the Hawks have uncovered some secret gameplan to beating Boston, but by Game 5 (or Game 6, if the Hawks win another game), I do envision there being some sort of altercation that could alter the remainder of the playoffs.

Despite all of his emotional outbursts, I don’t think it will be Garnett that is initially involved or Ray Allen, but Pierce, second year point man Rajon Rondo, or veteran Sam Cassell could each be potential key cogs that are lost for a number of games due to losing their temper.

Pierce was the target of the previously mentioned hard foul in Game 2, and he has been the target of some jawing, including Horford’s words in the above video. Rondo came close to getting a technical in Game 3 after receiving a offensive foul, and he has exchanged words with Bibby. Cassell is another emotional player with trash talking a common element of his repertoire.

Instigating the confrontation will likely be one of either Bibby or Smith because of their talking, Horford because of his antics, or big man Zaza Pachulia because of his constant bickering at officials and opposing players. The way this series is playing out one of these players is going to start something that could result in the suspension of players pertinent to Boston having a successful playoff run.

Much like last season when Phoenix appeared to be the strongest team remaining in the playoffs and a favorite to win the title going into the second round but fell to the San Antonio Spurs partially due to the suspensions of star forward Amare Stoudamire and Boris Diaw, another key player for the Suns, Boston’s title hopes could fall if a suspension occurred to one of their key cogs, especially any member of the Big Three.

So while I don’t think the Hawks have a legitimate chance to defeat Boston in a best of seven series (as much as it pains me to state it), I do believe Atlanta could ruin KG and the Celtics championship aspirations.

Now, after all that — my observations from Game 3:

• Watching Kevin Garnett during shootaround is nearly worth the price of admission. For at least 4 or 5 minutes, he shot elbow and elbow extended jumpers and rarely touched the rim.
• “The Big Ticket” is almost as impressive shooting free throws. He was 10-11 Saturday, and his miss was his only one of the series.
• Al Horford is a beast on the glass. He’s averaging 11 boards to go with his 15.3 points per game in the series. I still think he is deserving of being the Rookie of the Year.
• It also appears Horford is becoming an, if not “the”, emotional leader of the Hawks even as a rookie. During a timeout Atlanta called because Boston started to make a run in the second half, it was Horford who put his arm around Josh Smith to calm him on the way to the huddle, and then spoke to the team during the timeout.
  • It was also Horford who played Muhammad Ali’s upset of George Foreman in the “Rumble in the Jungle” for the team prior to Game 3 for inspiration.
• TheA-Town Dancers (Hawks’ dance team) spent more time changing than actually dancing as they wore like 7 or 8 different outfits, and like Atlanta Sports Fan stated Atlanta’s Briana is one of the hottest dancers in the league. However, he was wrong in assuming the rest of the series should be skipped after the blowouts in the first two games.
• One of Atlanta’s pregame graphics summation of several of the Hawks was right on target, specifically Josh Smith’s which read “Freak Athleticism.” Smith almost could have had his own Sportscenter Top 10 just from Game 3. He had 5 dunks, a key no look pass to set up Horford and force a Boston timeout, and one absolutely not nice block on Rondo that prompted Horford to dust the ball off after it went out of bounds.
• Kendrick Perkins does a tremendous job using his lower body to get positioning and to move others out of the way to get rebounds.
• As long as the Hawks move the ball, they are a dangerous team, but the offense gets stagnant at times…and it’s usually Joe Johnson. I don’t know if it’s a lack of faith in his teammates or simple selfishness, but when he tries to go one-on-one Atlanta is a far worse team.
• Zaza Pachulia shouldn’t touch the ball on the offensive end.
• The Hawks shouldn’t expect Paul Pierce and Ray Allen to combine to shoot 4-12 from 3-point land in future games when they are getting open shots. The defense has to rotate and players have to close out better.
• Marvin Williams played great (13 pts, 6 rbs) despite only getting 24 minutes. The former #2 overall pick is crucial to any success the Hawks will have in the future. Him not playing is another reason why I don’t think Mike Woodson is a very good coach. (Another being his inability to have Atlanta force the issue with their stunning transition game and properly use the athleticism that almost every player on the roster has.)
• Boston made 23 of 25 free throws. Hawks’ point guard Bibby missed 4 of his 6 shots from the charity stripe. Yeah, don’t think that’s what was envisioned when he was brought in.

Shotgun Spratling

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