Celtics at Atlanta Hawks Game 1: Game thread
- Zaza Pachulia (foot) is out. Doc Rivers said Ray Allen (ankle) is out for the Celtics.
- Zaza says his recovery has been “slow motion” and he’s uncertain if or when he will be able to play during the series: “I don’t have an answer about that. I really don’t. It would make it easier for you guys, me, the coaching staff and the team but I don’t have an answer.”
- More Zaza: “It doesn’t matter if me and Al [Horford] are going to be out for the series, we are still a good team. We are going to confident. We are going to fight.”
- Larry Drew is sticking with Jason Collins at center: “The lineup has been good for us, first of all. It hasn’t been a situation where it hasn’t worked out for us. Even with those first two losses against Boston, lineup-wise, it has been good for us. At this stage [I] don’t really want to rock the boat with that. It’s been good for us. I want to stay with it through the course of the series. If things call for change, we certainly will evaluate that and make a decision on that. But for right now that’s what we will go with.”
- The Hawks were +9 in 34-plus minutes with this lineup during the regular season, according to BasketballValue. They were pretty much worse across the board statistically with Collins on the floor vs. Boston.
- Drew: “Playing against a guy that’s more mobile whether we match him up against [Brandon] Bass or [Kevin] Garnett, that will be a challenge for him. But Jason is a very smart basketball player, particularly defensively. He knows how to play people, from a big guy who is more stationary in the post to a guy who moves around a little bit. He has shown he has the ability to adapt either way. We are counting on his his smarts and his know-how to defend people.”
- Joe Johnson on the Hawks frontline without Horford and Pachulia: “We are down a few bigs so that means us guards and forwards, our play has to get a little nastier.”
- Ivan Johnson on the Celtics: “I am pretty sure they are going to try me but we played them already so I know what to expect.”
- Ivan on the previous meetings with the Celtics: “KG tried me. [Keyon] Dooling, he tried me.” What did KG have to say? “Just regular KG. Talking [bleep].”
- Ivan: “I know what to expect from them so I’m just going to keep a level head and play my game.”
Michael Cunningham, Hawks beat
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799 comments Add your comment
drmaryb.(*_*).
April 29th, 2012
9:32 pm
Peter Stringer:
Rondo could get a suspension…
Marc D’Amico/Celtics.com:
Rondo just got tossed and made contact with the ref… oh my.
9:25
Comment From Kevin
DEFENSE!!
9:25
Comment From UhOh!!
DEFENSE!!
9:25
MollyMcGrath:
That turnover would have been huge…
9:25
Comment From ilovtheceltics
fight til the end!!!
Peter Stringer:
Rondo How.
Marc D’Amico/Celtics.com:
Oh my… that could be really, really bad….
soullrenaissance
April 29th, 2012
9:32 pm
No Slimjr, Rondo is just an emotional hot-head.
DawgNole
April 29th, 2012
9:32 pm
Shamrock
April 29th, 2012
9:28 pm
Congratulations Hawks fans, no sweep.
KevinA
April 29th, 2012
9:29 pm
LOL Shamwow, your message sure has changed.
______________________
Changed his tune, but he’s here. That’s more than you can say for most of opponents’ morons on these blogs.
drmaryb.(*_*).
April 29th, 2012
9:33 pm
Josh pizzed … he threw the headband away! LOL
phil
April 29th, 2012
9:33 pm
Celtics – 17 titles
Hawks – 1 title….in St. louis
The league will strain to justify the bump is my guess.
soullrenaissance
April 29th, 2012
9:33 pm
If Rondo does not play and Allen sits out game 2, we will see how good a coach Doc really is.
Loserville USA
April 29th, 2012
9:33 pm
One thing Stern cares about more than ratings — himself.
If he doesn’t suspend Rondo he will be crucified.
Slimjr
April 29th, 2012
9:33 pm
Vegas had the Celts winning this thing.. Somebody made a boat load. He’s thanking Rondo…hehehehe
Buddy Grizzard
April 29th, 2012
9:34 pm
Everybody thought Ivan was the “ticking time bomb.” I would never have predicted that it would be a player with championship experience that would lose his cool and cost his team.
KevinA
April 29th, 2012
9:34 pm
Josh has been the best Hawk the last 3 years.
Slimjr
April 29th, 2012
9:34 pm
Give him two games!
BlackBird1999
April 29th, 2012
9:34 pm
Rondo must be suspended, for game 2.
phil
April 29th, 2012
9:34 pm
Good…
Josh looks smarter w/o the damn headband.
How does he get such good numbers with so many boneheaded plays?
northcyde
April 29th, 2012
9:35 pm
JJ made his first 2 shots . . . then proceeded to miss 12 of his next 13 shots . . with 9 of them being threes.
Unacceptable man.
Either take a better shot, or create a better shot for other people.
Glad to win this game, but PLENTY to complain about. And I’m sure people will definitely complain.
Defense was stellar tonight though.
yodaddybrother
April 29th, 2012
9:35 pm
good job Hawks….take advantage of the upcoming suspension by going up 2-0 in the series
terrell
April 29th, 2012
9:36 pm
ANYBODY still wanna trade Josh Smith? Just curious?
Slimjr
April 29th, 2012
9:36 pm
KG with one of his worst playoff performances in his Hall of Fame career!
steven
April 29th, 2012
9:36 pm
Joe’s suckiness this game led to Rondo being tossed. I’ll take it.
steven
April 29th, 2012
9:37 pm
The sad thing is people will say Pierce had a terrible game and the Celtics almost won. Yet, they’ll neglect to mention that Joe sucked balls as well.
Luke Cage
April 29th, 2012
9:37 pm
SWEET CHRISTMAS!!!
atlchris77
April 29th, 2012
9:37 pm
If Joe would have done anything, this would have been a blowout. CREDIT LD. THE FINAL MINUTES WERE PLAYED THROUGH JOSH.
phil
April 29th, 2012
9:37 pm
Congratulations, boys, on the win! Playoff wins in Atlanta are cause for civic unrest!!
That said, game two will be a war. We never make anything easy. Ever.
The entire Celtics team could be out and doc himself and 4 cheerleaders would play us to the wire.
Dangerous, dangerous game coming up. Still a must win. They all are.
northcyde
April 29th, 2012
9:37 pm
@ Loserville
Stern doesn’t worry about being crucified. Plus, no one cares about the Hawks, so they wont crucify him that bad. Stern will be whipped with a small switch, than face crucifixion.
Walt Frazier
April 29th, 2012
9:37 pm
Wow, I like what has transpired! Rondo may get a one game suspension for the bump. Or maybe not.
brigadierjerry
April 29th, 2012
9:37 pm
Good competitive playoff game. hawks need to close better Josh played well minus a few plays such as that behind the back dribble jump shot that had no way of going in the last 90 seconds of the game. Rondo should get 1 game suspension no question about it. Will have to wait for game 2. I think Docs move resting the startters for so long backfired. Celtics looked totally rusty. They will play better Game 2. Key is if Rondo is going to get suspended and is Ray Allen gonna play
Slimjr
April 29th, 2012
9:38 pm
Somebody is gonna give Josh close to 100 million! Sucks it wont be Atlanta!
northcyde
April 29th, 2012
9:38 pm
Damn . . I thought for sure that Josh was going to get his 20 – 20 game. He ended up with 18 rebounds.
Stellar game by him, despite the 2nd half struggles.
yodaddybrother
April 29th, 2012
9:38 pm
@northcyde Joe Johnson was missing free throws as well. SMH. In his defense though, Paul Pierce had a similar night so they cancelled each other out
CaptCaveman
April 29th, 2012
9:39 pm
and now we go to the TNT crew so they can invent a new way to try to talk good about the Celtics when they just got beat down by the Hawks………… I don’t care about the run in the second half, that’s happens to almost every team with a big lead at halftime…… bottom line, when the Hawks needed to dial it up and get a bucket or a play – THEY DID !!! ’nuff said.
Sly Ty
April 29th, 2012
9:39 pm
RONDO MUST BE SUSPENDED FOR THE NEXT GAME.
Luke Cage
April 29th, 2012
9:39 pm
Bench will play much better in game 2
By the letter of the rules, Crybaby rondo should be suspended for game 2, gotta take advantage of that.
Props to Joe for the D on Princess paul.
Slimjr
April 29th, 2012
9:39 pm
2 games!
phil
April 29th, 2012
9:39 pm
Joe johnson always seems to disappear when it matters in the playoffs.
Makes you want to scream.
Difference in him and lebron, among many others, is that joe vanishes in rounds one and two while lebron at least waits until dragging his bunch to the finals to fall apart.
Rev in Tampa
April 29th, 2012
9:40 pm
JJ had a terrible night shooting but had many OPEN looks. But he shut down Pierce.
JJ can return from a shooting slup. But Pierce is too slow to create enough separation from JJ to get open looks.
soullrenaissance
April 29th, 2012
9:40 pm
Its a great day in Atlanta when The Hawks can win a playoff Game with JJ playing so horrendous. This team has truly matured. Josh Smith, bad shots aside played hard. Ivan hustled. Hinrich did too. Teague played adequate….Message to Rondo – - – You stupid.
DawgNole
April 29th, 2012
9:41 pm
Even more than the TNT dopes, I’m looking forward to seeing how the espn “experts” justify “forgetting” to mention the Hawks in their analysis earlier today. Seriously, heads should’ve rolled for that. I understand fully why the team gets no respect (history screams loudly), but to not even mention them? That’s a fireable offense in my mind simply because it’s supposed to be an objective analysis.
Sly Ty
April 29th, 2012
9:41 pm
NO TOUCHING REFEREES IN ANY SPORT. Rondo MUST be suspended. Accidental or not, he created the contact, threatened the refs personal space, and acted like a common inmate.
northcyde
April 29th, 2012
9:41 pm
steven
April 29th, 2012
9:36 pm
Joe’s suckiness this game led to Rondo being tossed. I’ll take it.
********************
LOL . . I guess that’s one positive to JJ’s horrible night.
LOL @ Charles talking about it was a turrible call. They hate the fact that we beat them tonight.
KevinA
April 29th, 2012
9:41 pm
When bonehead is gone and the Hawks miss the playoffs………….
yodaddybrother
April 29th, 2012
9:42 pm
lol @ TNT crew trying to justify the bump
soullrenaissance
April 29th, 2012
9:43 pm
TNT talking heads implying that we had some home cooking. Saying there were bad calls. Lames.
O'Brien
April 29th, 2012
9:43 pm
Game ball to Josh (although he took some bad shots). He would have had more assists if JJ wasn’t so bad. Ironically, JJ was +24. Teague played well, and Props to Hinrich too. He made some big shots in the 1st half.
Meanwhile, Marvin went back to being Marvin, and Willie Green was -15 in 10 minutes. .
brigadierjerry
April 29th, 2012
9:43 pm
Also forgot to say Joe Johnson played like he was stuck in mud tonight. Missing free throws as if he had no legs. He’s been off for 2 and a half days. Gotta give credit where it is due Collins played decent. Good game by Kirk and Jeff Teague
phil
April 29th, 2012
9:43 pm
A terrible call…
Tackling someone, putiing them in a headlock is a FOUL! Time on the shotclock, time left in the game are irrelevant.
Except for the fools in the studio…
Gimme a damn break! I wouldn’t watch these idiots again except that I have to. Aside from ernie, that is.
Fire fat charles!!
Fire shaq!!
Fire Kenny Smith!!
Hawkfan
April 29th, 2012
9:44 pm
Great start and we held on. Gonna be a physical series. JJ will shoot better but so will Pierce. If Rondo out I don’t see them beating us. Kudos to Teague, Josh, Kirk, Collins, Ivan, TMac. Let’s get Game 2
Blast
April 29th, 2012
9:44 pm
TNT gonna talk about Rondoe miscue but not about Hawks win?
vava74
April 29th, 2012
9:44 pm
Terrible call my ass, Josh had perfect control of the ball and was rammed into the ground when he was trying to pass it off to someone.
That’s completely different from two guys going at the rock at the same time. You simply can’t run over someone.
This is not football.
Luke Cage
April 29th, 2012
9:44 pm
no props from TNT and actually say he tripped, thats pathetic jounalism
Slimjr
April 29th, 2012
9:45 pm
Iso needs help! Why is he dribbling into a double team? He’s forcing it at the end…Tell you what cant win in Boston with this sloppy 4th quarter play?
The Bulls will destroy the Hawks with a quarter like that..Yep…
northcyde
April 29th, 2012
9:45 pm
LOL @ them justifying Rondo bumping into the ref because he “tripped” on his foot.
Man . . don’t suspend that dude. Let him play so we can beat them at full strength. Boston and the national media will justify that “bump” for the next 48 hours.
So now the Celtics need “help” to beat the Hawks? Who would’ve thought?
If Josh Smith made that exact same play, with him “tripping” on the ref’s foot, Josh would be SURELY SUSPENDED.