On Pro Basketball
Matt Langone
BOSTON — Only time will tell if what occurred at TD Banknorth Garden yesterday afternoon was fool's gold for Boston Celtics fans.
But for now, things are good for the C's and their supporters.
After being pushed to a shocking win-or-go-home Game 7 in their first-round series with the eighth-seeded and 37-win Atlanta Hawks, the Celtics responded in impressive fashion, looking every bit as good as their No. 1 seed suggests. Boston put the clamps down on the Atlanta offense and dominated the paint en route to a 99-65 blowout win in front of a sellout crowd of 18,624. Now, the Celtics will host the LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals tomorrow night (8 p.m.).
The contest was never competitive, as the Celtics built a 44-26 halftime lead, then extended the advantage to 79-43 courtesy of a 35-point third quarter. Atlanta shot 29-percent from the floor and guard Joe Johnson (16 points) was the only Hawks players to surpass 10 points. Meanwhile, the Celtics had five players in double figures, led by Paul Pierce's 22 points. Boston also scored 60 points in the paint to Atlanta's 30.
Boston finally closed out a series that most people believe should've been over and done with in April. But the delay in knocking off a far-inferior team didn't prevent the atmosphere at the Garden from looking like the Green had just won title No. 17.
"I wasn't able to sleep the night before the game, but I should be able to sleep now," said Celtics forward Kevin Garnett, who had 18 points and 11 rebounds in just 27 minutes. "We learned a lot about our team through this series."
Homecourt meant everything in this series, with road victories being nonexistent. The Celtics won by margins of 23, 19, 25 and 34 in the friendly confines of their building.
"The fans were definitely the difference between playing in Atlanta and Boston," said Johnson, whose Hawks won by margins of nine, five and three at Philips Arena. "But we didn't come ready to play. We are inexperienced and this was a Game 7. We acted like it was a regular season game and we didn't come to play at all."
The glass-half-full fan of the Celtics could argue that the C's did what they needed to do to advance to the next round. You could also say that Boston delivered an emphatic message to the remaining playoff participants with yesterday's result.
However, there is also another side to the argument. One that would suggest the Celtics are no longer the invincible team that many people thought they were from November to April. After all, they were pushed to the brink of elimination by arguably one of the least impressive playoff teams in NBA history.
Even the Celtics players believe there is at least some validity to the latter argument.
"Our big question mark is maintaining consistency," said Garnett.
Boston veteran forward P.J. Brown elaborated on that.
"We're going to need increased intensity on both sides of the floor as the playoffs go on," said the 38-year-old Brown, who was a spark off the bench with two blocked shots in the second quarter. "We're also going to need more mental focus in terms of execution. I thought we had some lapses in this series and that's why it went seven games."
Seemingly all of their mental lapses occurred while on the road. The Celtics had a 10-point lead entering the fourth quarter in Game 4 in Atlanta, but still fell. Then the C's had a three-point lead to start the fourth quarter in Game 6 and lost again.
Fortunately for the Celtics, they will have home-court advantage throughout the playoffs. Still, conventional wisdom would say that Boston will have to win a road game at some point.
"The series with Atlanta taught us about the concentration that you need to have in the playoffs, especially on the road," said Pierce, who averaged 18 points per game in the series.
The young and athletic Hawks also exposed the fact that it's possible to make the Celtics look old. At times, the veteran Boston squad had trouble matching the energy of Atlanta's youthful front line. Hawks rookie center Al Horford was the leading rebounder in the series, averaging 10.4, while forward Josh Smith blocked nearly three shots per game.
"(Atlanta's) confidence was at an all-time high and it's hard to beat a young team like that with extreme confidence," said Brown. "Sometimes it just comes down to matchups, and this just wasn't a good matchup for us."
The Cavaliers are a potentially more effective team from the perimeter than the Hawks. But Cleveland still offers up its share of youthful athleticism in the form of the 23-year-old James. The series will most likely play out a little differently than the Hawks-Celtics, but the Cavs would be wise to learn from the team that has had the most sustained success against Boston thus far.
"The biggest key for us was that we played hard," said Atlanta forward Josh Childress. "That can really combat against a lot of deficiencies you have as a team.We didn't back down and we tried to make it hard for them to do what they wanted to do. The Celtics play hard every night and you have to match their intensity."
If it can almost work for a 37-win team, then it just may work for a 45-win team.
Matt Langone can be reached at mlangone@gloucestertimes.com
