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I think it becomes less of a shock when you've gone on record to proclaim such before the fact. The Warriors eliminating the Mavericks in a surprise upset of the top seed versus the lower seed last season during the playoffs qualified as a shock then.

I wouldn't expect anything less from Smith or any other prominent player on the Hawks roster. I mean what else would he say? I just wonder whether or not making early predictions on the outcome of a playoffs series has its place in the NBA anymore. No one cares about what's bulletin board material anymore. It doesn't work or players usually pay less attention to it if they've a smart head coach who defuses it quickly rather than fuel it with talking to the media.

The Celtics are not phased...

If Smith finishes having a good series statistically. Then he, at least, did his part and less will be said about him and his proclamation after the playoffs series if Atlanta is eliminated. The Atlanta media could suggest he'd no help from teammates or what have you.

Still, the Hawks are young, talented and have nothing to lose. They should make it interesting when the games shifts to Atlanta. The veteran Bibby will be the player to watch for the Hawks. Johnson and Smith will hold their owns. Horford will likely continue his impressive rookie year.



Quiet response

Atlanta forward Josh Smith has said his team is "going to shock the world" by upsetting the Celtics. Teammate Josh Childress has said he doesn't think "there's any position where you can say we are severely undermanned against them."

The Celtics were 3-0 with an average margin of victory of 14.2 points in the regular season against Atlanta, which is making its first playoff appearance since 1999.

The Celtics aren't getting caught up in the Hawk talk.

"Whatever they got to do to get themselves motivated up for a series," Pierce said. "Our team? We don't have any problem with that. We're going to play regardless."

Said Rivers: "You don't have to be a bulletin-board guy anymore. Back in the day, when the statement was created, you would see something in the paper and actually put it on the bulletin board and the players would read it. Now you don't have to do that anymore, everyone will tell them. We don't need that to get it going." Boston Globe

Regarding the Hawks thinking they will win the series:

Since the Celtics aren't going to do anything, I'll do it for them:



And regarding Childress' comment that they aren't undermanned at any position vs. the C's, again I'll save everyone (Celtics players and fan alike) the trouble and express what we're all thinking:

Sounds like Josh Smith is aspiring to be the next Quentin Richardson.

francishsu wrote:Sounds like Josh Smith is aspiring to be the next Quentin Richardson.

For his own sake, then, he should shut the **** up and stop it. Who would *want* to be the next Q?

Come on, guys. What do you expect him to say? That we're gonna lose? It's good to know our team is heading into this series to win and isn't just happy to be here, that's why they play they games!

I hope Smith keeps talking. The more fodder he can provide us, the faster we'll finish out this series.

I don't think KG needs a quote from a 22-year old to get him motivated. That dude already has all the motivation he needs: a ring.

Josh Smith believes wrong.

I probably wouldn't have paid any mind to Smith's comments if perhaps they were said to Rondo jokingly during a telephone call and Rondo brought it up during practice to the local media. I don't know if the two of them are friends but it has been said they were high school teammates. I figure such premature talk would be common among childhood friends.

Is he trying to increase our motivation??

bonsaiflipflops wrote:I probably wouldn't have paid any mind to Smith's comments if perhaps they were said to Rondo jokingly during a telephone call and Rondo brought it up during practice to the local media. I don't know if the two of them are friends but it has been said they were high school teammates. I figure such premature talk would be common among childhood friends.

They aren't childhood friends but they were roomates their last year of highschool at Oak Hill.

http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball ... as_rivals/

Josh Smith is now a joke in my book, following such "players" as Quentin Richardson, Deshawn Stevenson and Gilbert Areners.

JoshB914 wrote:Come on, guys. What do you expect him to say? That we're gonna lose? It's good to know our team is heading into this series to win and isn't just happy to be here, that's why they play they games!

Yeah, I agree. Even if Josh Smith believes that the Celtics are the superior team, you don't want your best player coming out and saying that they're gonna lose. Why even bother at that point?

I don't understand why this is an issue and people are losing their caca over it. Who cares?

I think Josh Smith misremembers the regular season

LucerneStDoggz wrote:Josh Smith is now a joke in my book, following such "players" as Quentin Richardson, Deshawn Stevenson and Gilbert Areners.

Same here.

tombattor wrote:-= original quote snipped =-
Yeah, I agree. Even if Josh Smith believes that the Celtics are the superior team, you don't want your best player coming out and saying that they're gonna lose. Why even bother at that point?

I don't understand why this is an issue and people are losing their caca over it. Who cares?

You and the other poster are arguing as if Josh Smith only had two possible things that could be said (i.e. we're going to beat them or we're going to lose to them). The Celtics players could be believing that they going to sweep the Hawks, but do you see any quotes like that coming from them?

francishsu wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



You and the other poster are arguing as if Josh Smith only had two possible things that could be said (i.e. we're going to beat them or we're going to lose to them). The Celtics players could be believing that they going to sweep the Hawks, but do you see any quotes like that coming from them?

Well that wasn't the full quote. The Boston news paper has it sounding like he's guaranteeing the Hawks are going to win.

"We'd be fools to think it's not possible," said fourth-year Hawks forward Josh Smith. "We'd be bigger fools not to believe in ourselves, especially after the way people have bashed us the past few years. Why shouldn't we think we're going to shock the world? The Warriors showed everybody that it's not impossible."

http://www.ajc.com/hawks/content/sports ... _0417.html

Josh Smith is an idiot plain and simple. Not only will they not win a game, they won't even be IN a game. Its gonna be blowout city and by saying stupid stuff like this he's only going to make it worst for this terribly over-matched team. I mean come on you were 5 games under .500 and you come out and say something crazy like this? What a nutjob!

francishsu wrote:You and the other poster are arguing as if Josh Smith only had two possible things that could be said (i.e. we're going to beat them or we're going to lose to them). The Celtics players could be believing that they going to sweep the Hawks, but do you see any quotes like that coming from them?

I agree, what Josh Smith should have done is complement the C's. That's what the C's and Pats do.

Good for Josh Smith. What else is he supposed to think?