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I am a longtime Celtics fan, but I can't be too upset with them. It's as much Atlanta playing well as it is the Celtics not stepping up. Joe Johnson has turned into Lebron and Kobe part 3. Smith is playing a foot above our guys on defense. Childress and Horford are charging the boards and are hard to block out when we have guys rushing the shooters. We had them down 10 after 3 and they came out and smoked us to start the 4th.
The calls were definitely in Atlanta's favor the last 2 games, but the home team always get the calls, so I would expect that to swing back our way on Wednesday. They have to find a way to keep Johnson from going off in game 5. They need to bull their way in under the basket and make the refs make the call instead of worrying about getting blocked occasionally.
I think they will win the series, but Wednesday is a must-win.

Atlanta doesn't deserve "some" credit. They deserve ALL the credit. Props to them.

Now it's the time for the Celtics to answer the call.

They remind me of the Jamaican bobsled team in Cool Runnings, I bet the TNT broadcasters will have ATL shirts on wedneday. Hopefully like the Jamaicans there "bobsled" will fall apart at the end, win lose or draw they deserve some respect

^^^ 20 points for the "Cool Runnings" reference!!!

This reminds me of the Rocky IV movie when the Russian Death Machine Drago kills Apollo Creed and was pummelling Rocky and all of a sudden Rocky gets in a punch and sees the machine can be hurt. The Russian is stunned by a cut in the 2nd round and Rocky is rejuvenated with hope. They pound each other for 13 more rounds and everybody is pulling for the underdog except the Russians. The ending was wrong in this case, but I'm feeling like we keep hitting these guys and they keep fighting back when they should have gone down.

I think it's more like This Is Spinal Tap, where the band's drummer's keep dying, equipment is malfunctioning on stage (games 3 and 4) and in general, nothing goes right, until they go on a huge tour of Japan, where they're inexplicably the most popular thing around: that's what game 5 will be like. Japan. You heard it here first.

Whatever happens Atlanta will look good because they already won 2 games.

If Atlanta losses the series they can always say "no one gave us a chance, yet we still won X amount of games against the "best" team in the NBA.

Even if the celtics win people will it sill looks bad for them because they lost X amount of games to an 8th place sub 500 team.

They only thing that the celtics could have done was sweep the series.

Joebiscuit wrote:Whatever happens Atlanta will look good because they already won 2 games.

If Atlanta losses the series they can always say "no one gave us a chance, yet we still won X amount of games against the "best" team in the NBA.

Even if the celtics win people will it sill looks bad for them because they lost X amount of games to an 8th place sub 500 team.

They only thing that the celtics could have done was sweep the series.

Exactly, but if we somehow start to play like a team that deserves to be in the playoffs and possibly win the championship noone will care. Its a win win for Atlanta because they have nothing to lose. It sucks for us, but if we win the series and move on it really wont matter how it went down.

The Hawks are much better at home than they are on the road. We look at their 37-45 record and think they are a below average team. They were 25-16 at home. Same as Toronto, Orlando and Washington. Only Boston, Cleveland and Detroit were better at home than Atlanta.
Now on the road is a different story. The Hawks were 12-29. You would expect the Celtics to win all home games in the series and 1 of 3 on the road. Hopefully that 1 is game 6.

No doubt! The Hawks deserve all the credit. Their young studs, Josh Smith and Joe Johnson are stars in the making. I am very very impressed by them.

BUT this is a team we should beat. Doc is dumb as a brick. How can he stay with Sam Cassell for so long, when he's clearly killing the team. Before he got here, our 2nd unit was a group who play with each other. Now it's Sam the Trash taking garbage shots with everyone standingn around. No offensive flow and abundance of fastbreak opportunities for the ultra athletic Hawks.

The Hawks length and use of a pseudo-zone has really worked wonders for them. That and working off the home crowd. They really make runs. That is why I think they will lose Game 5 no matter what though, because we made runs on them even with the crowd and took the lead but they could get back in thanks to the crowd and some easing of the gas pedal on the C's part. Back in Boston, if we go on a 16-3 run to start there will be no Hawks home crowd to cheer them back into the game.

This is why you win home court advantage boys. Whether KG plays or not we should win this game at home.

Game 6 will be the true test of this team's meddle. Can they play within themselves and remember the game is played the same way today as it was when they won 66 games? I saw a tight team in the 4th, one unsure of itself. KG and Posey need to re-energize this team and get them playing team ball again- on BOTH ends of the floor.

As painful as last night was, it would really stink to be a Washington, Toronto, Denver, Phoenix, Houston or Dallas fan right now. My day was better than Roger Clemens and compared to listening to the constant ridiculing of my Oakland Raiders, this forum is hot wings and pizza. As long as the Celtics pull out the series, I'm glad to get to watch them as often as possible (win or lose).

worst record of a nba playoff team...EVER.
its not how good the hawks are, its how bad the celtics have been.

Egregious Blunder wrote:worst record of a nba playoff team...EVER.
its not how good the hawks are, its how bad the celtics have been.

Record-wise, you are right. However, the Hawks have a ton of talent. They really have a bright future.

But as you said, the Celtics have been atrocious.

Props to ATL, I'm not so sure we are winnig the series, Garnett walks with the nearest defender at2 meters, PP falls while guarding JJ, easy layups missed are things that worry me so much...

Keep focusing soley on the Hawks record and not their talent...that's a great strategy. LOL.

Hawks have earned my respect. I thought they were going to get swept. They've shown themselves to be a solid team with a lot of energy. I have to give props to their crowd too. I've never seen such a pumped up and packed Atlanta crowd.

You guys will pull it off but if somehow the hawks won, I twould be one of the greatest upsets EVER!

c-mac 4.35 wrote:You guys will pull it off but if somehow the hawks won, I twould be one of the greatest upsets EVER!

Yep, if it happens it has to be. The Mavs/Warriors thing looks like nothing in comparison.

I don't think too many people are discrediting the Hawks. WE are just frustrated that given the advantageous position we were in, esp last night, we made some terrible non adjustments in the fourth quarter that gave the appearance of having noone at the wheel. We definitely should acknowledge that the Hawks are playing well enough to force us to make (fantasized) adjustments in the first place.