Atlanta Hawks at Celtics: Game 6 thread
Boston–The Celtics said Paul Pierce has a sprained left MCL. Doc Rivers: “It’s not the best situation but he’s going to play. We have to find out what he can do on the floor. We have to find the most effective way he can score. He said he has more life energy-wise [than Game 5], but the knee is the same.”
- Same starting lineup for Hawks. Larry Drew on the lineup in Game 5: “It did pretty much what I expected. We’ve been waiting on Marvin [Williams] to make some shots. He’s had some good looks.”
- Drew on Hawks’ health: “They are holding their own. We have got some guys that are a little banged up. But looking around the league, other teams do as well. It’s playoff time. The play has been very physical. We have just got to push through it.”
- Drew on Josh Smith: “I think he’s getting better. He’s been battling a sore knee pretty much the whole season. He’s been quiet about it. He knows we need him and he has to play hurt, so that’s what he’s doing. I give him a lot of credit for that. I do think he’s showing signs of the knee improving.”
- Josh said he would spend extra time pregame getting warm: “I feel a little better. It takes a little bit of time for the knee to get warmed up.”
- Zaza Pachulia got up some shots at shootaround for the first time since he injured his foot. “It went well,” he said. “Honestly I wasn’t expecting to participate in the shootaround. Mindset leaving hotel was kind of watch it. Went up to doctor, he ran a couple tests and said, ‘Why don’t you try to shoot?’ Body was feeling great. I was able to finish.”
- Zaza said a return in the second round if the Hawks advance is “more realistic” than playing in Game 7 Saturday if they win tonight.
- Drew on minutes for Al Horford and the other starters: “These guys have been piling up a lot of minutes. It’s just a situation where we are trying to win a game. If the game is getting away from us, I have got to get my starters back in there. This is do or die for us.”
- Al said he feels like his defensive timing is off in help situations but “on the ball I feel strong.”
- More Al: “For sure I have fresher legs but I don’t know if that’s totally an advantage. These guys have been in a rhythm. I’m just trying to make it work for me.”
- Josh on Al: “He has fresher legs than everyone in the series. Why not play him?”
- Drew on Kirk Hinrich’s limited playing time after halftime in Game 5: “I anticipated playing Kirk more in the second half. But Jeff [Teague] has the speed and we needed that. As long as [Rajon] Rondo is in the game, Jeff will be in there defending him.”
- More Doc Rivers on Pierce’s knee: “He’s not going to get to the line as much. That’s just the way it is. We have to create other ways. We can get Kevin to the post more but they are doubling him so it makes it hard for him to get to the line, too. We have to create other ways.”
- Don in Mickael Pietrus’ shooting struggles: “When your shot doesn’t go in and you are not a great player, then it can cause your confidence to drop.” Doc said Marquis Daniels could take some of Pietrus’ minutes: “He can guard Joe [Johnson] almost as well. But the thing with ‘MP’ is they still guard him at the 3-point line. With Marquis, they would not. It would be another guy they could leave.”
- Drew on the keys to getting off to a better start here than in Game 4: “Shot selection and not turn the ball over. We were in a hurry last game. We made a lot of early, ill-advised passes. We didn’t explore our options. We were looking to one side, and Boston is too good for that.”
- Josh on the Celtics: “I see them trying to come out early and establish themselves and get the crowd into it and try to make it into a physical game.”
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
1,540 comments Add your comment
Disgusted
May 10th, 2012
10:54 pm
Big Ray—Who would take Joe with the $$$$$ and yrs left?
He is unmovable and after a deep breath is taken, you have to step back and try to add a bit to what you do have and try for the best.
If you break it up what do go back to, 28 wins?
Now if they can get the rights to pick Anthony Davis–yes, move anyone but that is not happening.
We are stuck with this core for a couple more yrs and its still reasonable young.
I pose this question out there — Who would be trade bait that would net something useful.
RA
May 10th, 2012
10:54 pm
I know there’s a lot of frustration on here, but let post a couple of true things. If Atlanta has Za Za and Al from the start of this series, they take this in five. Second, they Hawks lost. A great player had a great game. There’s a reason that Kevin Garnette is going to the Hall of Fame, same with Pierce, same with Allen. They’re great players, and when the chips are down and it’s make or break, they’re going to take and make the big shot because they’ve been doing since the last dinosaur dropped of the scene. Now, to all of you folks that are saying blow up the team, really?! This starting unit played less than ten games together the whole year, but they still had enough to Chemistry to take Boston to the limit! Blow it up? Go learn something about basketball. The Detroit Pistons didn’t just beat the Celtics, they had to play them year after year and get turned back time after time. Chicago had to overcome Detroit, and that wasn’t done over night. Now, granted, the Hawks haven’t done it the easy way. They didn’t (or couldn’t) go out and buy three hall of famers or convince three of the best players in the game to come together to try and win a championship. They built through the draft and free agency, and as far as I’m concerned what Larry Drew did this year, with the team on hand was nothing short of a miracle.
bball2026
May 10th, 2012
10:54 pm
The fans were flipping him off and he just returned the favor from what I saw from Ivan. Joe Johnson should have been driving to the basket the hole game and they get screw by the refs with the foul against Hoford.
ntrigue
May 10th, 2012
10:54 pm
Refs cheated
Incompetent or Corrupt
May 10th, 2012
10:55 pm
JJ mugged on last drive to basket. No foul. JSmith breaks free from Garnett for a wide open dunk, foul called away from the ball. Horford intentionally fouled(not even an attempt at the ball) and not flagrant called.
Either the refs are incompetent or corrupt. You decide which.
Geno
May 10th, 2012
10:55 pm
Same reason why I slowly stopped watchn the braves…
Luke Cage
May 10th, 2012
10:55 pm
Hawks just need a scorer a guy like Kevin Martin, before you laugh remember K-Mart avg bout 20pts a game and most of those come from the FT line, dude avg’s bout 7 a game, but how do you get a guy like that here.
Najeh Davenpoop
May 10th, 2012
10:55 pm
GREAT breakdown of the play that led to that Josh Smith brick
kwooden
May 10th, 2012
10:55 pm
I hate to lose a game like this especially with the refs doing a terrible job (10 to 24FTs!!) Our offensive at the end of the game was just terrible, wasting the clock and shooting jumpshots. Al and Josh scored on drives to the basket, but didn’t drive again! I don’t know if I will be able to sleep tonight!
mark33
May 10th, 2012
10:55 pm
(on the foul call on the out of bounds, Hawks down 2 w/ 3.01 on the clock)
Dominique was right. The ref made the call as the ball was inbounded… but the fould occurred well before the whistle. The ref had the courage to blow the whistle, but not make the correct call. = pretty bad.
Should have been Hawks 2 free throws and the ball!
Why would the not review that?
nice shot josh
May 10th, 2012
10:56 pm
Um people, the BRAVES are our best chance at winning a title!!
Luke Cage
May 10th, 2012
10:56 pm
David Stern wants that Celts/Heat match up, imagine the ratings, thats why the refs dry ficked us.
BIG DOG
May 10th, 2012
10:56 pm
Eric 6′3 please no more undersize players 7years is enough.
It’s time move Horford to PF and Josh SF, AND GET RID OF ISO JOE.
BIG DOG IN THE HOUSE
Grandmaster JeJe (GM)
May 10th, 2012
10:56 pm
Serious question: is there ANY way to break up core and still be a Playoff team? Why do we HAVE to rebuild?
I wonder if when asked what we need to do to improve, if Joe says his annual “what we got here is good” BS he says every year
Walt Frazier
May 10th, 2012
10:56 pm
The refs were all biased for the Celtics past game 1. It’s a biased league these days. Those are the times we live in. Gone are the days of referees that call an unbiased game. They are on the payroll of David Stern. David Stern likes the Celtic/76’s match better-more revenue. It’s how the game is played, playa. Don’t hate the playa, hate the game. Sorry azz ASG’s not interested in selling the franchise-so don’t expect much. Boycott future games and keep Phillips attendance low.
Disgusted
May 10th, 2012
10:57 pm
“New Orleans has a guy in Eric Gordon that the Hawks could trade to get. Go get him.”
Not a bad idea. who do we have that N.O. would want?
cp
May 10th, 2012
10:57 pm
They played hard but the play calling near the end was brutal. LD has to go. As Big Ray said, dude is no better than Woodson.Time to ship some guys out of here. I dont want to go back to the days of not making the playoffs but changes have to be made and I mean major changes. The core has peaked and its time to go in a new direction.
Loserville USA
May 10th, 2012
10:57 pm
At least with guys like Roundfield, Drew, Rollins & Co. you knew you were always getting an honest effort.
These guys are athletic, talented and a joke. Their time has officially passed. Anyone who buys a ticket to see this team play might as well give the money to a worthy charity, because these guys are heartless, immature, lazy prima donnas.
DawgNole
May 10th, 2012
10:57 pm
Slimjr
May 10th, 2012
10:44 pm
UP next The BRAVES MELTDOWN, then come the fabulous Fal-cons……
Georgia professional sports bites….
______________________
One championship in 155 seasons says you’re correct.
keepinitreal
May 10th, 2012
10:58 pm
I vacillate on Smoove, but I’m thinking we should finally pull the plug on him this offseason. It’s clear he’s just never going to be a smart player. I love his skillset as much as anybody, but he still makes a few plays a game that kill you. Tonight was the tech and the awful jump shot at the end of the game.
The Hawks can build around Horford and Teague and still be a credible squad going forward. See what you can get for Josh. We’re unfotunately probably stuck with No-Show Joe.
RA
May 10th, 2012
10:58 pm
And another thing, the Hawks showed up. They could have laid an egg. They could have got blitzed by 50 (as some of you predicted), but they didn’t. They played, they competed, and they lost, and that happens, but they played with all the heart and all the fire and all the determination that the best Hawks fans had expected, and my hat’s off to them.
SWATS NATIVE
May 10th, 2012
10:58 pm
“Josh is 20 feet away from the hoop. What should he have done?” He should have driven the ball to the goal and make the officials blow the whistle. See, that isn’t to hard now is it?
doc
May 10th, 2012
10:58 pm
yeah it is going to be hard to get meto ay money for a ticket after stern and his refs play their games again. horford killed, teague soft foul and the little guy gets hosed again. sorry hawks you work hard and stern takes it from you. frstello probably called it right to as that one should have been automatically teo shots even if it wasnt flagrant. tired of it.
Slimjr
May 10th, 2012
10:58 pm
He should have put in on the floor and drove to the basket with the floater ala Rudy Gay..Oh thats right he does not have that weapon..Cant be the man without an assortment of weapons with the ball and the clock running down.
Crack head passed up Rudy Gay for Shell Head too….
Billy Knight will haunt this team for years to come….
drmaryb.(*_*).
May 10th, 2012
10:58 pm
Celtics 83 – 80 WIN
Celtics 40 – 36 rebs (that’s your 3 pt game)
Bradley +12 (led team)
Hammer
May 10th, 2012
10:58 pm
I don’t think you blow the entire team up. But you do blow maybe half of it up and see what you can get out of a few guys like smith.
northcyde
May 10th, 2012
10:58 pm
Garnett with a MONSTER GAME
28 points
14 rebounds
5 blocks
That’s why he’s a future Hall of Famer. Too bad he decides to have the game of his playoff life tonight.
Disgusted
May 10th, 2012
10:59 pm
“Um people, the BRAVES are our best chance at winning a title!!”
Liberty Cheapedia might stand in the way of that, they are worse then Leveinson/Gearon as far as ownership goes. There is a nucleus there but….and can this nucleus hold up in September?
KBB
May 10th, 2012
10:59 pm
At least Al went out on his shield. He played like a man in the 4th. Joe didn’t bother to show up a usual.
Lacsho
May 10th, 2012
10:59 pm
I Luv the Hawks!!!!! This was a great game, and they left everything on the court. LD made adjustments for the second half. The Hawks need a coach with a alpha personality, however; LD did a great job tonight. Smoove broke my heart, and BAWSE has to shake the miss free throw off. If we had AL for the entire season, we would’ve entered the playoffs with at least the #2 seed.
Big Al is a beast.
Peace to all my Hawks Fans. I really enjoyed reading the blog this year.
One Luv,
Lacsho
Najeh Davenpoop
May 10th, 2012
10:59 pm
“Serious question: is there ANY way to break up core and still be a Playoff team? Why do we HAVE to rebuild?”
Unless they trade Joe + either Josh or Al for Dwight, I don’t think so.
If they can’t pull off a Dwight trade, they should salary dump Joe and try to be a player in the 2013 free agent summer when CP3 and Dwight’s contracts will expire.
I think it is time for Joe to go. He will get more and more untradeable with each passing year. They need to move him while he still has value. They went 4-2 this year without him, with three wins over playoff teams. I think they will be fine, and will have much more salary cap flexibility.
If they can trade Joe and amnesty Marvin, they will be in very good shape to retool on the fly without having to blow things up.
justin
May 10th, 2012
11:00 pm
It was a very respectable performance. The refs hosed us. LD didn’t leave himself any time outs, and Josh did what Josh does on the penultimate possession.
BIG DOG
May 10th, 2012
11:00 pm
Okay Time to move on Billy Knight, Woody, and now LD and take iso Joe with you.
BIG DOG IN THE HOUSE
RA
May 10th, 2012
11:00 pm
Are there not any Hawks fans that respect the way they played these last two games. Isn’t there anybody?
ATL2467
May 10th, 2012
11:00 pm
I’ve seen more points scored in a pickup game at the Y. Send the Hawks to Winnipeg next…….
ntrigue
May 10th, 2012
11:01 pm
Refs beat us with 3 techs…Teague should not have gotten a tech or damp I don’t know about josh
Grandmaster JeJe (GM)
May 10th, 2012
11:01 pm
Beginning of 4th was a joke.
How freaking long were we stuck at 65 points for???
Wtf was that Teague dribbling for 23 seconds BS toward end?
WTF josh
Najeh Davenpoop
May 10th, 2012
11:01 pm
““Josh is 20 feet away from the hoop. What should he have done?” He should have driven the ball to the goal and make the officials blow the whistle. See, that isn’t to hard now is it?”
With 5 seconds on the shot clock and his handles? If you really think he can get to the hoop that easily, you haven’t been watching him long enough. More likely he dribbles it off his foot or gets it taken away by a collapsing help defender.
It was a bad shot, but it was also a broken play.
Luke Cage
May 10th, 2012
11:01 pm
Nuggets droppin bombs
Slimjr
May 10th, 2012
11:01 pm
Braves aren’t going to win Ch$t!
Last won a playoff series in 2001!
Big Ray
May 10th, 2012
11:01 pm
Josh probably wants to go, now. Especially if he thinks Joe ain’t going anywhere. That’s not cool, but the Hawks have to be smart about this. Something has to change between Al, Joe, and Josh.
We cannot go on with this 3 team captains thing.
And we cannot go on with these 3 guys on the team. It just can’t work. Or at least, we have not yet hired a coach who can make it work. Even with a top shelf coach, it’s likely too late to change the culture without changing at least one of these players. Two may not be necessary, but one is definitely going to need to happen.
So if Josh wants out, we have to find a way to let him go, but getting something worthwhile in return. I think we can forget getting equal value, but we can’t go with just trash and bad contracts.
If Josh wants to stay, the first thing I’d do is find a way to get Joe out of here. You just can’t have him and Joe on the same team anymore. There is a fundamental problem involving those two, and I think most of us can see that. Josh carried this team while Al was out and while Joe was hurt/not hurt/hurt/not hurt/WTFE….
Moving Horford is an option, but he’s too good of a PF to let go without getting some sort of ruffian/quality center type that can do all of the defensive and rebounding dirty work for the Hawks, and do it for at least 25 min per game.
Did we lose?
May 10th, 2012
11:02 pm
nice shot josh – Um people, the BRAVES are our best chance at winning a title!!
That is sad.
Grandmaster JeJe (GM)
May 10th, 2012
11:02 pm
ntrigue
May 10th, 2012
11:01 pm
Refs beat us with 3 techs…Teague should not have gotten a tech or damp I don’t know about josh
LinkReport this comment
***
celts missed the FTs but our guys are idiots for getting them
Najeh Davenpoop
May 10th, 2012
11:02 pm
“Are there not any Hawks fans that respect the way they played these last two games. Isn’t there anybody?”
Tons of respect for the heart they showed the last two games. If they had played with that kind of heart in Game 4, though, they wouldn’t be eliminated right now.
hawks r boring
May 10th, 2012
11:03 pm
i think i saw one pick n roll that whole game from hawks…the play gets so plain jane…somebody try to drive to the basket…there is no heart…just blank stares and bitter beer faces…please make a change ASG! it is time! WRITING IS ON THE WALL!
MistaGamer
May 10th, 2012
11:03 pm
keepinitreal… you may be keeping it real but you don’t seem to watch the game with any acuity.
anthony
May 10th, 2012
11:03 pm
Stupid referees playing favorites. They even wanted Boston to win. Why didn’t Drew stand up for his players when the ref called the foul before the ball was inbounded. Looks like he didn’t even care. Quit being Mr. Nice guy. The reason Josh took that bad shot is because we don’t try and run our offense until we ge the shot clock down to 10 swconds and then we have to heave one up. That’s stupidity. Of course, you have to make your free throws Al in that situation. No excuses when you’re down to that point.
BIG DOG
May 10th, 2012
11:03 pm
That was not Josh falt at the end, somebody dribble dribble dribble the ball then past it Josh with only 5seconds left what should he have done ?
BIG DOG IN THE HOUSE
Grandmaster JeJe (GM)
May 10th, 2012
11:03 pm
Big Ray,
Is it possible to break up the core and NOT turn into some shtty 30 win team? Maybe Smoove to Utah for Al Jeff or something?
RA
May 10th, 2012
11:03 pm
Thanks Lacsho. Hey yo, you can talk about Joe Johnson not showing, but if not for those three pointers he hit in the 3rd quarter, the game isn’t nearly as close as it ended. And for all ya’ll that want to get rid of Smoove. Remember, if he doesn’t have the night that he has, on ONE leg, the game isn’t close at all. I think some of you need to get past the anger and disapointment and think.