Celtics 83, Hawks 80: Celtics advance, barely
The Atlanta Hawks used every vial of alligator blood in their refrigerator to attempt a series-extending victory, but the Celtics managed to survive and will move on to the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
Paul Pierce looked significantly more mobile tonight, if not quite his most spry. His tough hoop to bring the Celtics within one during trouble time was very appreciated, as was his final-second block of Joe Johnson, as were his final two charity shots. Kevin Garnett was an absolute monster in every facet of the game. He also hit a game-winning turnaround in the post, but who kept track of that? Rajon Rondo is Rajon Rondo, though I wish he hadn’t traveled on that possesion late in the fourth quarter. Ryan Hollins did his thing, but shouldn’t have been in the game with four minutes left. Of course (what do I know?) he had an absolutely crucial offensive rebound with 42.3 seconds left. Mickael Pietrus will always have his putback dunk. Keyon Dooling remains an undesirable piece of the rotation.
Brandon Bass had his moments early, went mute for three quarters, then canned a critical jumper once the Hawks pulled within three midway through the fourth. Ray Allen couldn’t hit shit in the first half, reacted by trying to dunk on the entire Atlanta Hawks roster, hit a pretty big three in the second half, and oddly missed one of two free throws when the Celtics needed them the most. I maintain that it’s really difficult to choose whether Allen or Bradley deserve late-game minutes, but Doc Rivers seems to prefer Ray in the fourth quarter (I know, Bradley re-entered late, but just for defensive purposes). Greg Stiemsma struggled a little, but he will live to make important contributions at a later moment in time.
The Philadelphia 76ers await on Saturday.
More to come later, assuming I’m alive tonight after a 20-hour workday and that nerve-murdering affair.
It’s nothing more than a footnote, but Rondo didn’t reach 10 assists. And if Al Horford had made both of those free throws, Doc really would have come to regret having Marquis Daniels guard him on the final possession.
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Celtics Blog | Jay King | May 10, 2012
KG saved the Cs. Should have won this by at least 10+ pts. Sloppy play and KD doing nothing with RR on the bench??? And why RH over GS? GS had better stats in 14 less minutes. Cs were lucky to advance. But we won the rebounding and therefore the game. Hopefully, they’ll learn from this and play like they did in the first half in all the games in the next series. Go Cs…whew that could’ve been ugly.
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Not the solid win we all would have liked but a W is a W. Would have been great to see the Bulls take their series to 7, we could have used the rest, but it is what it is.
A bunch of strange sub moves by Doc tonight. Like James said, I’m not understanding the move to Hollins over Steamer and I know Rondo wasn’t up to the highest Rondo standards tonight but Doc has been picking some odd times to keep him on the bench and keep Dooling on the floor looking lost.
Like I said though, we’ll take it. Bring on Philly.
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avery>ray, again. when celtics went on big run in 2nd, avery was in, but when hawks came back, ray was in. its really not this hard
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I think we need some key guys to step up in the next round. Namely Brandon Bass, Mickael Pietrus, and Keyon Dooling. Those guys were our top three offseason pickups and we need them to play like it. Pietrus CANNOT shoot 15 percent from 3 and expect to be valuable and get minutes. Thank the good Lord we get to face the inexperienced Sixers with home court. One can only hope that EVERYONE (including Doc) learns from this series and fixes their games. I know he came up big when it counted, but why didn’t Rondo get at least 10 assists? I was expecting at least a double-double with Pierce obviously hobbled and Ray not 100%. Maybe he’s lost his confidence? He used to get 10+ assists easier than I get Chic-Fil-A sandwiches. Also, props to KG for being KG, Paul Pierce for coming up big when it counted on offense and defense (And some BIG rebounds)
I completely disagree with Doc as far as playing Hollins over Steimsma. Steimer knows our system more and knows his rotations.I think Doc sees Hollins as our version of Kennith Faried. Even though it’s not even close in terms of skill. When Hollins boxes out he can be very valuable as shown tonight however. But the thing I’m most satisfied with is the looks on everyone’s faces after the game. I literally saw NO ONE smiling, NO ONE celebrating. They all know they didn’t play well at all this series. This should serve as a wakeup call.
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Greg, Rondo not getting 10 assists should not worry you. Did you think he would get double digit assists in every game for the rest of his life? It’s the playoffs man, it’s tough out there.
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I’m actually glad the streak’s broken. I feel he was sometimes making passes when he should have shot in order to be the assist king. Like the moment in the 4th quarter that resulted in the traveling call.
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Wow the Bulls KO’d. Number 1 seed in the East…GONE. That’s big news. I really thought Chicago @ full strength would be hard to beat. PHI next. They were having their way with us earlier this season so don’t expect to coast to the next round. Boston was lucky to survive this series.
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How many consecutive ten assist games did RR have?
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Rondo seemed to lose some of his focus when Teague hit him in the face.
KG was, wow. His carrying on in the press conference was a bit much, of course, but I reckon he earned the right to attempt to serve everyone in the world, friends and foes, crow pie.
Sixers will run us off the floor if our guards (Rondo) don’t bring it on defense.
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Agree with everyone’s comments. Greg, good writing, and I”m glad you’re finally agreeing with me on Pietrus — his shooting is a disaster, though I do appreciate his put back dunk (which is where he should be trying to score, around the rim on offensive rebounds). I love Steamer, but Hollins has played solid minutes and is more athletic around the rim (though he did shy away and missed a dunk). But that offensive rebound may have been the difference in the game. Would Steamer have gotten that? Dooling cannot be the point guard; things fell apart with him in there.
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