Atlanta Hawks at Celtics Game 3: Game thread
Boston–Josh Smith (knee) is out and Marvin Williams starts at power forward. Ray Allen (ankle) will play for the first time since April 10. Rajon Rondo is back from suspension.
- Josh said he’s aiming to play in Game 4 Sunday: “I just have to rest and see how it feels. I want to get good enough to play but you never know. I don’t want to risk a domino effect and it being something more than what it is.”
- Josh tested the knee at shootaround this morning: “It felt pretty good until I started doing a lot of exploding up the basket. That’s where the pain really starts to generate when I become explosive with it. But as far as running and cutting and everything else it feels OK.”
- Yesterday Josh said he suffered the injury when Kevin Garnett banged into it while jostling for rebounding position. But he said the patellar tendonitis in his knee is a contributing factor. “I guess it caught up to me,” he said.
- The Hawks are now down their top three bigs. “Certainly it’s an uphill battle and a challenge for our team but I have all the confidence in the world these guys will step up to the challenge,” Larry Drew said.
- Josh: “We have to jell together, move the ball from side to side, and not get stagnant because this is a great defensive team. And we have to be able to match their physicality.”
- Joe Johnson: “We have just got to try to outwill them. We’ve got to find a way. We can’t dwell on or worry about what we don’t have. We have got to go for what we know. Is it going to be tough? Yeah, but it’s possible.”
- Drew said Joe still will check Paul Pierce. “Obviously with the matchup and Marvin starting at the four spot will have to do things a little differently as opposed to when Josh is in the lineup,” Drew said.
- Doc Rivers on Brandon Bass defending Marvin: “That’s hard. We worked on that all day. We thought Josh would play but we worked on the small lineup because when you look at them most of the year their best lineup has been their best lineup when they go small.”
- Joe saw heavy defensive pressure with Josh on the court. It only figures to get worse with Josh on the bench and a lack of offensive punch from among the remaining Hawks. “I’ve got to go quick or give the ball up quick and trust my teammates to make plays,” Joe said. “That’s pretty much the two things I’ve come up with. We’ll see when we get to the fourth quarter.”
- Rivers on Allen, who last played April 10: “There are no restrictions. He hasn’t played and gone up and down since he’s been injured. We’ve done some halfcourt but this is the first time he will do fullcourt since he’s been injured.”
- Suddenly Rivers is the coach warning his players not take a wounded opponent lightly: “The guys have to go out and play and at the end of the day hope they understand these are playoff games and you can’t give any away.”
Michael Cunningham, Hawks beat
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
1,096 comments Add your comment
phil
May 4th, 2012
10:52 pm
Fire Billy Knight and LD!!
High-sider
May 4th, 2012
10:53 pm
Dept. Of Unintended Irony
May 4th, 2012
10:50 pm
“it goes back to that first qtr when we missed about 20 strait shots.”
Couldn’t throw it in the Mediterranean?
———————————–
What about the Bering Strait?
BILLY KNIGHT
May 4th, 2012
10:53 pm
My Home boy still got a chance.
Larry will get and extended contract.
O'Brien
May 4th, 2012
10:54 pm
Najeh,
Nice to see the allstar Deng step up with Rose out. 5 pts, 9 rebs tonight. 8 pts, 5 rebs in game 2
phil
May 4th, 2012
10:54 pm
If the entire Eastern Conference, other than Atlanta, forfeited every remaining game, we’d still find a way to blow it….
Grandmaster JeJe (GM)
May 4th, 2012
10:54 pm
Pargo was sucking, and AFTER a timeout, he was STILL in!!!!
Don’t play him again. Play Willie a little bit. Increase Kirk’s minutes
Kingd92
May 4th, 2012
10:54 pm
If rondo didn’t undercut T-mac and sprain his ankle this dude would have finished the celtics off himself.
LT
May 4th, 2012
10:54 pm
I hate LD…. This game should have been won. Why bring in Vlad. But fo’ real, how you get like 3 fouls and you only played 3 minutes?! That’s horrible!!!!!
FIRE LD!!!!
Najeh Davenpoop
May 4th, 2012
10:55 pm
The Hawks other than Teague, Joe, T-Mac, and Damp (the four best Hawks on the floor tonight) were 9/32 (28.1%) with 14 points, 1/8 3FG, 5 assists, 8 turnovers. The only saving grace for them was 5 steals and 21 boards, 11 of them from Marvin.
If just one more Hawk could have had a half-decent game, this would have been a win. Sucks to be down 3 good players.
Grandmaster JeJe (GM)
May 4th, 2012
10:55 pm
Buddy, watch the first 4 mins of the 4th when u get a chance.
Rod, Rondo is very scary 1 on 1 because there is no help defense. Teague did okay on him, but at times it seemed like he was just toying with Teague on O
Najeh Davenpoop
May 4th, 2012
10:56 pm
“Nice to see the allstar Deng step up with Rose out. 5 pts, 9 rebs tonight. 8 pts, 5 rebs in game 2″
LMAO
And meanwhile, Hibbert has been played to a draw by Glen Davis in that series.
What a joke the All Star selection process is.
Najeh Davenpoop
May 4th, 2012
10:56 pm
Rondo shot 7/22 and had 6 turnovers. It’s not like he had an incredible game. He burned Teague a few times late but Teague actually did a pretty good job on him.
Joe Piskepo
May 4th, 2012
10:56 pm
The C’s should be ashame of their selves struggling for the win tonite. If the Hawks were at full strength with Al and Josh the hawks would have swept these pathetic C’s.
Buddy Grizzard
May 4th, 2012
10:57 pm
“Stop crying and winning so much Hawks fans.”
Less crying, more winning.
Najeh Davenpoop
May 4th, 2012
10:58 pm
Honestly if Teague had teammates who could hit jumpers or finish at the rim, he would have had double digit assists himself. He had a much more efficient scoring game than Rondo.
Rod from College Park
May 4th, 2012
10:59 pm
We played and overtime game and we still did not score over 85 points, but two idiots think defense is the problem.
LT
May 4th, 2012
11:00 pm
AND what happened with Kirk?! Why did he not get back in the game? I don’t think he played the entire 4th quarter plus OT.
Kingd92
May 4th, 2012
11:00 pm
If rondo didn’t fu*k up T-Mac’s ankle this game would have been a wrap. They could not hold him at end of the first half
KevinM
May 4th, 2012
11:00 pm
The C’s have a huge advantage now…we have to win 4/5 to take this series? Oh boy…..
I hope LD is now convinced Marvin gives us very little.
Joe Piskepo
May 4th, 2012
11:01 pm
The ESPN broadcast is horrible rather!
Grandmaster JeJe (GM)
May 4th, 2012
11:01 pm
If Josh returns Sunday, TMac plays 25+, and Pargo and Marvina don”t play, I guarantee a win Sunday.
This Celtics team is not THAT good!!!!
Rev in Tampa
May 4th, 2012
11:01 pm
Why didn’t Ivan get more time in the 4th quarter?
Rod from College Park
May 4th, 2012
11:01 pm
At this point, I have no fear of anyone on the Celtics but Pierce and Garnett. Bradley is hurt, Allen is not himself. I would try to take Pierce out of the game by doubling him as soon as he catches and live with the results. I would make Rondo and Garnett beat me.
LT
May 4th, 2012
11:02 pm
“Honestly if Teague had teammates who could hit jumpers or finish at the rim, he would have had double digit assists himself. He had a much more efficient scoring game than Rondo”
High-sider
May 4th, 2012
11:02 pm
Grandmaster JeJe (GM)
May 4th, 2012
10:47 pm
Would be up 3-0 if it wasn’t for LD
———————————————–
What about Rick Sund and his dumb player moves and roster changes?
Grandmaster JeJe (GM)
May 4th, 2012
11:03 pm
Rod from College Park
May 4th, 2012
10:59 pm
We played and overtime game and we still did not score over 85 points, but two idiots think defense is the problem.
LinkReport this comment
****
LOL. Defense was superb. KG hit double-contested shot in lane. No one on defense’s fault for that.
there was a point in 4th where I thought only way we’d score was thru Def. 3 seconds whistles.
LT
May 4th, 2012
11:03 pm
AND another horrible game by Marvin…
I was expecting this game to be a loss but since they wanted to act like they were into the game, I was into the game and NOW im mad!!
Joe Piskepo
May 4th, 2012
11:03 pm
Ivan = 6 fouls in this round
LT
May 4th, 2012
11:04 pm
AND Pargo played WAY too many minutes!!!
Grandmaster JeJe (GM)
May 4th, 2012
11:04 pm
High-Sider
Grandmaster JeJe (GM)
May 4th, 2012
10:47 pm
Would be up 3-0 if it wasn’t for LD
———————————————–
What about Rick Sund and his dumb player moves and roster changes?
LinkReport this comment
****
sund blows, but…. LD’s sub patterns have ruined us. Sund costs us Championships. LD is costing us this series.
Time to break up the core
Shamrock
May 4th, 2012
11:06 pm
I see a great game on Sunday, especially if Josh is set to go.
Grandmaster JeJe (GM)
May 4th, 2012
11:06 pm
Is anyone on this team going to start making open 3s? If TMac drives lane, just go up with it!!! Kirk and Duck arent doing 5h17….
christopher mehegan
May 4th, 2012
11:06 pm
HAHAHAHAHAHAH SO MUCH FOR YA DEPENDS SCRATCHING PARQUEE FAKE DIVE DIVA CHEAP SHOT ARTIST ATLANTA CHOKERS U SHMUCKS GO FROM BEING TIED IN THE SERIES 1-1 AFTER TONIGHT 2-1 WITH A CHANCE FOR THE CELTICS TO DELIVER THE KNOCKOUT BLOW ON SUNDAY AND GO UP 3-1 IN THE SERIES U GUYS MIGHT WANNA START BRINGING OUT THE GOLF CLUBS POLISH IT UP NICE AND ARRANGE TEE-TIMES AT UR LOCAL GOLF COURSE HAHAHAHAHAHAH GO CELTICS GREEN & WHITE FOREVER YA LOAFERS CLOSING TIME HAWKS TIME TO SAY GOODBYE CAUSE SUNDAY U WILL GO DOWN 3-1 IN THE SERIES HAHAHAHHA
BILLY KNIGHT
May 4th, 2012
11:07 pm
High – Sider
What about Rick Sund and his dumb player moves and roster changes ?
Thanks Bro
Joe Piskepo
May 4th, 2012
11:08 pm
Some of you hawks fans are helter skelter just like the espn broadcast. One second you praising the next you dissing. Great game sund, LD, and Hawks Players.
Disgusted
May 4th, 2012
11:08 pm
Grandmaster—How do you break up the core?
Unless you can trade up in the lottery for Anothony Davis — and no one would do that what do you do, go back to 20 something wins for three or four yrs and hope you get the top pick in the lottery?
I say that there is not much more of an option then get Horford, Zaza and Josh healthy and make another run. Its not like this is an ancient team.
There are also $$$$$ considerations and which other teams could fit our guys under their caps.
Easier said then done, so its damed if you do damed if you don’t.
Rod from College Park
May 4th, 2012
11:08 pm
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/amar-e-stoudemire-hand-injury-looks-really-really-201511973.html
Amare’s hand looks like a catchers mit. SMH
Dept. Of Corrections
May 4th, 2012
11:09 pm
Buddy Grizzard:
There is no such thing as a “non-alcoholic Margarita”.
Disgusted
May 4th, 2012
11:09 pm
Joe Piskepo–The Hawks are a helter skelter team, not easy team to be a fan of
The up and down attitude of the fans is justified
Grandmaster JeJe (GM)
May 4th, 2012
11:09 pm
1.5-2 months after season, Sund will be on 790 and say the below words verbatim:
“it’s tough to evaluate the team because there were so many injuries”
SSDY
Najeh Davenpoop
May 4th, 2012
11:10 pm
LMAO Amare what a clown. That looks terrible.
SteveW
May 4th, 2012
11:11 pm
Magic and Larry are close friends. Really. LD at Magic’s house with him the nite Magic announced he was HIV positive. Seriously.
Grandmaster JeJe (GM)
May 4th, 2012
11:12 pm
Disgusted,
you gotta move someone. Josh won’t resign here for under max IMHO. send him to Utah for a few of their front court players. Trade Marvin for ANYTHING. Can’t believe Z is STILL freaking out.
Good ob on that one Duck
Slimjr
May 4th, 2012
11:13 pm
Rick Sund + Larry Drew = 13-23 against the winners this season [totally failed]!
Celts in 5!… And yes Genius, 4 straight wins in a row is a sweep even if ya lost the 1st one in my book!
Thanks Woody Jr…Go back assisting ASAP!
LT
May 4th, 2012
11:13 pm
@Joe
If we win I still feel like Pargo played too many minutes, Kirk was missing and Marvin was useless and for that….. LD sucks!!! And don’t get me on Vlad and his 3 minutes of play with 3 fouls. This is the playoffs not a regular season game…. Every game is a MUST win!!
Grandmaster JeJe (GM)
May 4th, 2012
11:14 pm
True, Steve. Magic had LD as early COY candidate.
Damnit if LD is back next year
SteveW
May 4th, 2012
11:14 pm
We may try to make 1 more run next season with everybody healthy. Not giving up on this season however – we can beat these guys!
Joe Piskepo
May 4th, 2012
11:15 pm
Would you rather be an hapless Bulls fan with no scoring options.
WHOCARES
May 4th, 2012
11:16 pm
Who cares about NBA hoops! Go Celtics!
SteveW
May 4th, 2012
11:17 pm
And weirdly enough, if Kirk hadn’t gotten hurt last season and the beginning of this season, Teague would probably still be planted firmly on the bench
On a lottery team – because we wouldnt’ have done much with Kirk at the point.