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
Rev in Tampa
April 29th, 2012
10:54 pm
I’ve got to give Larry Drew lots of credit tonight. The Hawks ran his gameplan at the beginning of the game. He told the Hawks to attack and rebound. Did not let the Celtics defense dictate the game.
doc
April 29th, 2012
10:55 pm
slimj you kidding? kg just seem to score at will it seemed though you dont get any info when you are at the game.i havent seen the stat sheet. is that what the talking heads are saying? wow! too funny.
phil
April 29th, 2012
10:55 pm
Finally, barkley wakes up and calls rondo the liar that he is.
Fire kenny smith!
northcyde
April 29th, 2012
10:55 pm
Kenny Smith . . get out of town man. And to think that he used to be a Hawk for a short time
northcyde
April 29th, 2012
10:57 pm
Doc . . KG got hot at the end, but had a horrible 1st half.
He was 1 – 9 FG at halftime . . . 7 – 10 FG in the 2nd half.
doc
April 29th, 2012
10:57 pm
rondo cost them the game period. he was close to double double land at about 20/9 at one point i saw on the brief info they lash up on the scoreboard. man did he have a seizure and that bump was not accidental contact, deliberate as hell.
City Of Atlanta Still Recovering From William Tecumseh Sherman
April 29th, 2012
10:59 pm
inside the nba crew needs to stfu…refs missed the call when willie drove the ball for the and 1 and they not even mentioning that
Big Lou
April 29th, 2012
10:59 pm
KG got to the line a few times, too.
Most of the Celtics shot like crap.
JJ missed a lot of open jumpers. That won’t continue. I expect him to have a monster game two.
Paradise Lost
April 29th, 2012
10:59 pm
Sam Mitchell says forget Twin’s stat sheet: “he’s in there to be a solid defender.”
Najeh Davenpoop
April 29th, 2012
10:59 pm
Haven’t seen the box score yet, but game balls to Twin and Ivan. I know Josh put up a crazy line, but without the work Ivan did on the glass and Collins did on KG, the Hawks don’t win this game. This was a grind it out, defensive win that was keyed by the big men.
Joe, way to validate every criticism that anyone has ever made about you. Pretty sure dude missed at least 10 wide open shots. He better come join the party on Tuesday.
TNT analysts openly hoping Rondo doesn’t get suspended. LMAO good luck with that.
Najeh Davenpoop
April 29th, 2012
11:00 pm
Gotta give props to LD, too, since the move to start Collins clearly paid off. He went with the bench a little too long in the second half, but otherwise, he did a pretty good job in Game 1.
Najeh Davenpoop
April 29th, 2012
11:01 pm
Also, props to Livingsocial and the Hawks for hooking us up with free shirts that actually look pretty good.
doc
April 29th, 2012
11:01 pm
northcyde, jason didnt play as much in the first half was my impression.i think it was ivan on him a lot then. i know they subbed at the 6:50 mark in the first. it was collins who he was eating alove when the celts came back. kg just about did it single handed against twin over and over and he was unstoppable. twin couldnt get out to him to contset anything and then kg would come in close. also think josh spent a bit of time on him in the first half with ivan on bass and jj on pierce who was mediocre and not himself. again without a scoreboard i am unable to track it as closely as i would like for sure.
ClosALT21
April 29th, 2012
11:03 pm
Just Make TNT Move To Another City!!! We Gets No Love From Those Flunkies And What Did Barkley Do To Get So Much Press… No Rings O His Finger…. Oh Yeah to those Arogant Celtics Fans! Any Excuse will do!!
doc
April 29th, 2012
11:07 pm
ivan played his heart out but was losing it so he and ld got into it a bit and ivan sat the rest of the game to prove a point. if rondo hadnt taken the choke collar i would beyelling a bit at ld for holding out ivan to long and not just saying sfu and play son.
i wonder if wood leads in the highest ratio ever for a coach to lose playoff games by more than 15 points for each total loss. man, i think back now and he has lost 5 straight by at least that much, got a slap down by the cavs before that and then 4 games in boston where we didnt even compete the year we snuck in three here. man, woody needs to turn it around fast.
doc
April 29th, 2012
11:08 pm
there is really no way rondo should set one foot on the floor and for the tnt buffon’s to say otherwise degradates the game, sorry it does
northcyde
April 29th, 2012
11:09 pm
No Doc. Collins played like 15 or 16 minutes in the 1st half. It was Collins who made life miserable for him in the 1st half, for the most part. He logged almost 32 minutes for the entire game . . almost an unheard of amount of minutes for Collins.
In the 2nd half, KG had it going against anybody who was on him.
@ Najeh . . JJ settled for waaay too many 3s tonight. After Boston made an adjustment to not play Rondo and Bradley at the same time, JJ settled for the 3 ball, instead of pulling up for midrange jumpers. And when he did try to go inside, he either lost the ball or threw a bad pass, or simply had to give it up to another player.
JJ should’ve been setting up from 20 feet away, and trusting his midrange jumper. Ironically, that is exactly what Josh did, especially in the 1st half.
I knew he was going to have a bad outside shooting night after he had missed his first 4 threes, and started to miss FTs. At that point, he had to either take midrange jumpers, get to the hole, or become a playmaker for others.
His 1st half was acceptable, seeing that he shot 6 FTs. But his 2nd half was simply garbage. Totally unacceptable from him.
Slimjr
April 29th, 2012
11:11 pm
Woody Ball not working in the playoffs? 2-12? Getting destroyed out of the gym! What gives guys? Head Scratching
Grandmaster JeJe (GM)
April 29th, 2012
11:11 pm
I will post my observations from tonight’s game later tonight on the [new] blog. It will be can’t miss Grandmaster JeJe(GM)
Big Lou
April 29th, 2012
11:12 pm
I don’t agree with LD having the whole bench out there at the same time. I usually see one or two Celtic starters sprinkled in with their bench. That’s the only stupid coaching move I saw from him. I hope he can adjust.
Hey, Najeh. What happened to the free towels? Are the Hawks that broke where they couldn’t give out something to wave?
Buddy Grizzard
April 29th, 2012
11:13 pm
“ivan played his heart out but was losing it so he and ld got into it a bit and ivan sat the rest of the game to prove a point.”
Thats interesting doc… I didn’t see Ivan get into it with LD, but I knew he got yanked after arguing with the refs. The way this played out with Rondo going postal before Ivan had a chance to, Ivan gets to see this from the bench and see how it’s going to cost the Celtics and maybe learn a lesson from it. You know praise from me for LD is like pulling teethe, but he handled Ivan correctly in this game.
Slimjr
April 29th, 2012
11:14 pm
I hope the the Blog Monster does not eat up your significant review of the game Grandmaster?
northcyde
April 29th, 2012
11:15 pm
Memphis looking like an NBA title contender tonight.
Najeh Davenpoop
April 29th, 2012
11:17 pm
“Hey, Najeh. What happened to the free towels? Are the Hawks that broke where they couldn’t give out something to wave?”
Several people in the lower level had Thundersticks. Other than that, the only free stuff the non-Livingsocial people got was the program.
Sly Ty
April 29th, 2012
11:18 pm
Earlier this season RONDO was ejected for throwing the ball at a ref. This is his 2nd offense this season. I insisted on 1 game, now as a fan I demand a 3 game suspension. INMATES should be kept in their place. 3 game suspension at a minimum.
Slimjr
April 29th, 2012
11:20 pm
Memphis is scary! Glad we not playing them!
Thats right Sam Mitchell is the other analyst on NBA TV with Brent Barry! Heady duo for sure!
High-sider
April 29th, 2012
11:21 pm
Memphis is killing LAC, 76-50.
doc
April 29th, 2012
11:22 pm
Doc is toooo funy on this one:
”I’m always worried, but I would be surprised if that happens,” Rivers said. ”I thought Rondo was walking toward Marc, and Marc turned back toward him, and that’s when Rondo bumped him. … That’s all it was, in my opinion. But we’ll see.”
playing mind games on the league now. ref was absolutely still with his back to rondo who bumped and showed no reaction of remorse like it was an accident nor reached out to catch himself if he “tripped” as the talking heads are suggesting. lies.
Slimjr
April 29th, 2012
11:22 pm
This maybe the Spurs year to take the title..OKC may have something to say about it..Bet it wont be coming form the East? Yep…
drmaryb.(*_*).
April 29th, 2012
11:23 pm
I never heard the Celtics apologize when they beat the hawks by 1 point, 2 points. We won by 9 points tonight and it should have been 20.
High-sider
April 29th, 2012
11:24 pm
Maybe that [Vinny Del] Negro can’t coach. (LOL)
Slimjr
April 29th, 2012
11:25 pm
Hawks by 25-30 Tuesday night..No Rondo…
Knicks lost their point guard and got lit up!
Sly Ty
April 29th, 2012
11:27 pm
drmaryb, I agree with what you said. More importantly no has apologized for Al and Zaza being absent. RONDO MUST BE SUSPENDED FOR 3 GAMES. Earlier in the season he threw a ball at a Ref. He is acting like an INMATE. The suspension will be at least 3 games.
doc
April 29th, 2012
11:28 pm
buddy, ivan started jawing with the ref. he had tried it earlier on a call, was whining a bit looking at ld. ld gave the calm down sign with his hands palm down as to say forget it, play ball and keep your cool. as ivan was jawing and getting close to a t, ld started yelling at ivan to shut up who yelled back at ld now, who yelled back promptly pulled him. twin came quickly on the court. ivan sat the rest of the game.
Sly Ty
April 29th, 2012
11:29 pm
Rondo needs Anger Management training before being allowed on the court. Earlier in the season he also threw a ball at a Ref.
Grandmaster JeJe (GM)
April 29th, 2012
11:30 pm
Observations from Game 1:
1) Joe and Josh made some of the worst passes I’ve ever seen. I could not believe how they could not even anticipate a defender intercepting some of those horrendous passes. I almost feel like Smoove’s 22 & 18 was one of the worst 22 & 18 games I’ve ever seen. MAKE SMART PASSES!!!!!!
2) Bench: Where were you guys? MARVIN: What the hell were you doing out there? I see this guy during warmups SWISHING *EVERY* single jumpshot. Then he gets those same shots during the game, and that’s when he puts up 2 points for the game and does nothing else at all to impact the game. He did not make one jumpshot tonight (nice alleyoop finish though). But let’s keep hearing northcyde defend this guy, citing some stats that show him as the 17th best SF, even though I’m sure they’re largely inflated since he plays AGAIN SECOND UNIT OPPOSITION mostly
3) T-Mac really needs to try be shoot-first. I know Willie and Pargo are allergic to passing, but T-Mac had good looks he passed up
4) Teague played well but needs to be more bold at times. On a few sequences, he had wide open 10 footers with KG on him and he inexplicably passed them up. STOP BEING TIMID
5) Collins was spectacular until the 4th when KG went to work
6) KG was bloody good tonight. This guy put up very decent averages this year and he can still play this game. Pierce was dreadful. His 3s weren’t even close and he looked awful out there
7) I underestimated Rondo’s jumpshot. He made 3 or 4 in the 2nd half that really helped keep the game close
9) Flip Saunders was about 25 feet behind the Celtics bench taking notes the whole game. He was behind 2 guys who might be affiliated with the Celtics. I wonder if he’s a consultant for them now
10) Saw more open seats than I thought I’d see.
SUMMARY: Bench needs to step up, SMARTER passes, Marvin sucks, Marvin sucks
Grandmaster JeJe (GM)
April 29th, 2012
11:32 pm
*To try win game 2.
Played well tonight but can play even better. Just stop settling for jumpshots and do not play Marvin if he is going to be useless for us
doc
April 29th, 2012
11:33 pm
heh heh, finally looked at the boxscore. jj was plus 24 and pp was 5-19 for the celts and -13. guess it want an all bad night for jj.
Grandmaster JeJe (GM)
April 29th, 2012
11:34 pm
Put in Joe and T-Mac at 2 and 3 and they should just attack whoever doesn’t have Pierce/Pietrus on him. If that guy is Bradley/Ray (when he returns), just keep attacking those guys.
BTW, That Stiemsma dude is freaking awful. Why not let Hollins play?
Slimjr
April 29th, 2012
11:34 pm
Marvin was MIA!
What else is new with the worst #2 lottery pick in Atlanta Hawks history….
doc
April 29th, 2012
11:35 pm
gm jeje, glad you enjoyed the game.
Slimjr
April 29th, 2012
11:36 pm
Joe’s defense= A++++++++++
drmaryb.(*_*).
April 29th, 2012
11:36 pm
MC must be writing a masterpiece novel tonight or, he is having a writer’s block. Hopefully, he is calling the league offices to see how many games Ronddo got.
High-sider
April 29th, 2012
11:38 pm
Grandmaster JeJe (GM), good observations/write up.
doc
April 29th, 2012
11:39 pm
buddy, yeah he did since we won,
but i was wanting ivan out there trying to get a body on kg as twin was not close getting lost by the screens and kg movement. and yes twin played his best game i have seen him play as a hawk but wished zaza was out there. it might have been a cake walk.
Sly Ty
April 29th, 2012
11:39 pm
drmaryb, I am certain Rondo will get 3 games. Rondo threw a ball at a Ref earlier in the season. He is a repeat offender at assaulting the Refs. If you act like an INMATE, you should be treated like an inmate.
Slimjr
April 29th, 2012
11:40 pm
So apparently Marvin plays like an MVP candidate in practice? Gametime is another story….
darrell starks
April 29th, 2012
11:41 pm
Good win by the Hawks.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!
Michael Cunningham
April 29th, 2012
11:42 pm
new blog posted. shutting down thread.