Hawks barely hang on to defeat Celtics Lite (Updated)
Josh Smith and the Hawks found the second-string Celtics a little more difficult to handle than expected. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)
(Last update: 10:17 p.m.)
Dwight Howard, once again reaffirming that there is no “team” in “I,” decided this week to have back surgery now rather than get an injection, bite a bullet, look away from the vanity mirror and wait until after the NBA playoffs to have his procedure.
This decision will not only submarine Orlando’s postseason aspirations, it fairly cemented that the Hawks and Boston will finish as the Eastern Conference’s Nos. 4 and 5 seeds and ensure they will meet in the first round of the playoffs. So at least in some sense, Friday’s Hawks-Celtics game was a postseason preview.
But the Hawks had better hope what we just witnessed will bear little resemblance to what happens next week.
The Celtics played their second string. The Hawks merely looked second-rate.
Facing a Boston lineup that was missing Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen and Mickael Pietrus – cue Rick Pitino: “Nobody of worth is walking through that door” — the Hawks started well enough (led 19-9 five minutes into the game), toyed with the Celtics for two quarters, got sloppy on offense, soft on defense, looked desperate, saw their lead dwindle to one point several times in the fourth, and then eventually stumbled across the finish line with a 97-92 win.
So. Feeling confident about next week now?
“As far as I’m concerned, Boston accomplished what they wanted — t0 have their reserves come out and compete at a high level and take us down to the wire,” Hawks coach Larry Drew said.
He wasn’t celebrating, even though the Hawks (38-25) all but clinched home-court advantage in the first round. They lead Boston (37-37) by 1½ games. They have only three to play and the Celtics have two.
So there’s the comfort of that. But everything else Friday made you want to run headfirst into a wall.
Celtics coach Doc Rivers explained his team’s lineup before the game as so: “We would like home-court advantage in the playoffs, but it’s more important to be healthy and fresh.”
Let me translate: “Take this game. We surrender.”
I mean, does anything wave a white flag more than a starting lineup of Avery Bradley, Keyon Dooling, Sasha Pavlovic, Brandon Bass and Greg Stiemsma?
Rivers gave us Celtics Lite. The Hawks had a chance to bury their likely first-round opponent and maybe dent their egos just a bit. Instead, they came close to getting humiliated.
The lone bright spot was Joe Johnson, who finished with 30 points, six assists, five rebounds and two steals. His drive-and-one with two minutes remaining stretched a one-point lead to 90-86. His feed to Josh Smith with under a minute left gave the Hawks some relative comfort at 94-88.
“We were just careless,” Smith said later. “When you get geared up to play a team with the high potential of Boston and you come out right before the game see that [their starters] are not going to play, I don’t know if it does something mentally to you but … it makes it unpredictable.”
It was easy to understand Rivers’ mindset Friday. The ridiculous post-lockout schedule, courtesy of commissioner David Stern, has prompted coaches to rest banged up starters all season. But Rivers’ lineup also suggested he either had supreme confidence in his team in the playoffs or he just didn’t fear the Hawks much, regardless of where the games are going to be played.
A slight ‘dis’, perhaps?
Drew said before the game he wasn’t insulted by Rivers’ decision. Nor with Smith.
“I don’t think it’s a slap in the face,” he said, repeating a reporter’s question. “They have a good team, a veteran team. They know how to win on the road and win in the postseason. If they don’t want [home court], we’ll take it. We’ll definitely take it.”
Drew intended to keep his offensive and defensive sets vanilla Friday so as to not tip off Rivers on any changes he had planned for the playoffs. That thought process would’ve worked if the Hawks hadn’t turned the ball over 18 times, given up some easy buckets and generally played down to the competition.
The fourth quarter was pure desperation. It’s not the last memory the Hawks wanted before the playoffs. Fortunately, the slate is wiped clean before next weekend. They will be glad to let this one go.
By Jeff Schultz
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137 comments Add your comment
DawgNole
April 20th, 2012
9:08 pm
IlliniDawg
April 20th, 2012
9:05 pm
Also commending the “coaching prowess” of Doc Rivers. Not sure the words “coaching prowess” and Larry Drew have ever been uttered in the same sentence.
_________________
They’re right–and so are you.
Nanny
April 20th, 2012
9:08 pm
Jeff,
Please ask Drew in the post game what Marvin does that warrants getting so many minutes?
Marvin is a flat out disgrace. Looks like he gets more out of shape as the season goes along. Remember all that nonsense we heard about his back finally being healthy at the start of the year?
His duck butt is more out of control then it ever has been.
kbb
April 20th, 2012
9:12 pm
Who let this Doris Burke broad out of the kitchen? She should be announcing Wisconsin State vs. Maine Southern D-3 basketball games.
IlliniDawg
April 20th, 2012
9:15 pm
kbb: not a big fan of her commentary either, but at least she is telling it like it is.
keepinitreal
April 20th, 2012
9:15 pm
This is ridiculous. It would be one thing to lay an egg in a game like this in January, but with home-court advantage on the line, it’s shocking the Hawks aren’t winning this game by 20+.
Wink
April 20th, 2012
9:16 pm
Got dawn, see now they have got to play for their pride….starters gave up the lead and now they got to try to win the game…they should not have been on the floor after the first quarter….bum coach!
Jp
April 20th, 2012
9:28 pm
So much for that easy win huh? Celtics are going to destroy hawks in playoffs. Josh Smith is an idiot! Lol
JSS
April 20th, 2012
9:29 pm
ZLet me pretend to be like a Falcons fan… “A win is a win!”
R. Royce
April 20th, 2012
9:33 pm
Good win. A win is a win. But let that be a lesson. You can’t get all comfortable when you have a ten point lead against the Celtics. And for those of you who get offended by what the espn announcers say: Don’t worry about it. That’s why they have two networks, one local and one national. I prefer the local when looking at the Hawks.
JSS
April 20th, 2012
9:59 pm
Somebody ran from Hopkinton and forgot to hydrate… Get some IVs player!
DawgNole
April 20th, 2012
10:04 pm
“So. Feeling confident about next week now?”
______________________
Hell no!
biz
April 20th, 2012
10:11 pm
Hawks play up/down to their opponent as featured tonight. Strangely this bizarre team (bizarre for the last 3 years) doesn’t worry me. I take them to rise up and beat the Celts 4-3 (with 2 blowout losses). After that…well lets just get to after that.
BARELY HANGING on
April 20th, 2012
10:13 pm
a victory.
That’s good Jeff, I’m serious.
DawgNole
April 20th, 2012
10:19 pm
biz
April 20th, 2012
10:11 pm
Hawks play up/down to their opponent as featured tonight. Strangely this bizarre team (bizarre for the last 3 years) doesn’t worry me. I take them to rise up and beat the Celts 4-3 (with 2 blowout losses). After that…well lets just get to after that.
_____________________
Bizarre for the last 44 years.
Bravesfan79
April 20th, 2012
10:42 pm
And this…. is why i was rooting for the Hawks to face the Pacers in round 1! 2 bad Dwight had to be a big baby and make orlando suck so they couldnt move up and pass the hawks.
BARELY HANGING on
April 20th, 2012
10:43 pm
I parked my car in haffod yad
and we got kicked by the Hawks
Slimjr
April 20th, 2012
10:48 pm
Would not be surprised if the Hawks get swept in 4.. tonight was brutal and it should not have been…
BARELY HANGING on
April 20th, 2012
11:01 pm
… you tellin’ me the Hawks beat the bean bags.
intellibird
April 20th, 2012
11:15 pm
Christopher Mehegan is a green pixie. Keep dreaming you Bawston meathead. Why don’t you go on over and blog about the Red Sux. Looking great this year.
Lets be straight – Boston was lucky to get the Championship they got a few years ago. They’re going nowhere this year. Soon, Doc Rivers will probably be coaching the Hawks and you Bawston Irish will be in the cellar again.
Hard to see a future in Rajon Rondo and nobody else. Garnett, Pierce, and Allen are dinosaurs. Danny Ainge ain’t gonna save this puppy going forward.
Hawks win series in 5 games.
JJ
April 21st, 2012
12:42 am
One point win, 50 point win – couldn’t care less either way. Just win. And I feel no less confident now in a series vs Boston than I did before the game. Either way, this is going to be a hard fought series that probably will go 7. And I’m glad that 7th game will be at THF.
J-SMOOVE
April 21st, 2012
1:38 am
All we need is for Horford to give us half of a game of the bench and we will beat Boston. We have always played well vs them. Hawks 4 Celtics 3. CANT WAIT!!!
LakeDawg
April 21st, 2012
3:01 am
LMAO. The Hawks are invisible in ATL. Three pages on a live blog of a huge game. Alas, there is reason. EVERYONE knows the Hawks have ZERO chance of doing anything in the playoffs. The Hawks are nutty, so they might take the Celtics in round (even though I doubt it), but they will lay down in the second round and get swept. Nothing changes. BLOW IT UP.
JSS
April 21st, 2012
7:18 am
Lake Dawg mistook this for a UGA Basketball or Falcons playoff blog! The only team to actually win a series in 21st Century, and your crying? Stick to mythical things, is there a 32nd anniversary video on sell yet?
Frontman
April 21st, 2012
8:02 am
Sweet, JSS…
Typical Joe Johnson: 23 points in the first half, 7 in the second. What percentage of this guy’s points come in the first half? Dude is MIA after halftime…
JSS
April 21st, 2012
9:00 am
Marvin and Joe (can include Teague in the mix) are Casper specialists (they become ghosts and disappear)!
DP
April 21st, 2012
9:24 am
3 main points from last night’s game:
1. This NBA regular season is a complete joke, pretending fans are seeing legitimate NBA games when teams have to play 11 games in 15 nights as the Celtics just did or play 3 nights in a row in different cities. I watched San Antonio play a couple of overtimes against Dallas pretty early in the season and Popovich had Duncan and Parker on the bench for the last 20+ minutes with the subs on the floor. That’s what the smart coaches are doing, forget home court, just try to keep your players healthy for the playoffs.
2. Doc Rivers clearly has no fear of the Hawks in a postseason series as he just handed them home court advantage by resting Pierce and Garnett and leaving Rondo in Boston. And even with that the Hawks barely won at home.
3. Larry Drew kept it “vanilla” last night because he didn’t want to show the Celtics the new wrinkles he has for the playoffs? LOL. Like what, IsoJoe dribbling between his legs and trying to back down a defender for 15 seconds and then launching an off balance miss at the shot clock buzzer?
STRETCH
April 21st, 2012
9:54 am
Whats scary about this team is that the STILL dont listen to Drew or Drew is NOT as creative on offensive as he should. For example:
Last night with the Hawks up by 11, the get a rebound, come down court and ONE pass to Duck who throws up a 16 ft baseline jumper for a brick. Boston scores. Next play, Marvin dribbles into the paint, with no place to go, still tries to throw up a shot and another brick.
Josh is still shooting when he feels like it. But im going to stop talking about that cause nothing is going to change.
Did TMac even dress last night?
DawgNole
April 21st, 2012
10:24 am
christopher mehegan
April 21st, 2012
12:40 am
intellibird is a overrated brokeback mountain referee crying foul crying goober keep dreaming u brkeback mountain referee smoking foul crying shmuck how is the braves lookin this year hahahahah oh yeah and u knuckleheads have a disjointed management also how is that workin out for ur team the team as a whole is alomst about as disfunctional as the maloofs in sacramento the hawks will never see an nba title for about as long as u knuckleheads continue to be a leave it to beaver footnote celtics in 6 games go c’s
_______________________
And I thought some of the Hawks fans on these blogs were dumb. This dope might’ve set a new low.
DawgNole
April 21st, 2012
10:26 am
DP
April 21st, 2012
9:24 am
Doc Rivers clearly has no fear of the Hawks in a postseason series as he just handed them home court advantage by resting Pierce and Garnett and leaving Rondo in Boston. And even with that the Hawks barely won at home.
________________________
Agree. Guess we’ll find out soon enough if his confidence is warranted.
Scott Brantley
April 21st, 2012
10:47 am
133rd!!!!
ryan
April 21st, 2012
11:58 am
Boston will sweep the Hawks, where does Atlanta have an advantage
Rondo is one of the best players in the league
Pierce wants the ball when the game is on the line ( he is a closer and makes about six million less than Joe)
KG and Bass neutralize J Smooth
Doc is probably the second best coach in the league behind Poppovich
There will be five to seven thousand loud celtics fans in philips
Avery Bradley can score as can Ray Allen in bunches without Jamal Crawford the Hawks lost that element this season
This is the worst possible matchup in round one
Dudah
April 21st, 2012
5:07 pm
There is no “I” in team but there is a “U” in Stupid…what a crappy article .. you have an easy job if you can write stuff like this and actually get it published..you ought to retire out of respect for “real” authors/columnists of talent.. wow
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Buzz2011
April 22nd, 2012
5:36 am
A little too much drama Schultz!! You only need to win by a point and who cares if the Celtics have players out? The Hawks are missing startters as well. Horford, Patulia?/
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P
April 27th, 2012
9:50 pm
Hawks will get sweep yall.barely beat boston last week against there bench