"Why, Kendrick, this is mighty comfortable don't you think?"

What happens after you contend against a contender? What good does it do to push a team to the brink if you eventually succumb? Can a playoff loss be a springboard to greatness?

Two years ago, the Atlanta Hawks gave the Boston Celtics everything they could handle in a first-round series.  Tempers flared, and play was fierce.  Mike Bibby said the Celtics fans were fair-weather, and had hopped on the bandwagon.  At the time, Kevin Garnett said, “If I was back in my younger days I probably would have said something, but I learned. Let your play do your talking.”  But Garnett never lets his play speak alone, and neither team would during the series.

Al Horford taunted Paul Pierce after a jumper, and Pierce responded with a gang sign — or ‘B’, or whatever symbol he made. Marvin Williams decked Rajon Rondo, and Kevin Garnett leveled Zaza Pachulia.  It was a 1 vs. 8 matchup, but the Hawks played like equals with nothing to lose.  After a 34-point, game seven drubbing sent Atlanta home fishing for the summer, they were dismissed with pride.  They hadn’t won, but they’d proven to themselves they belonged in the postseason and, to a young team searching for an identity, that was almost as important as advancing to the second round.

Two years later, the Hawks are looking for more.  Sick of early-round exits, they are now borderline title contenders.  Not quite favorites, or even in the select group of two or three favorites, but in the conversation.

And they own the Celtics.  Though the C’s — by way of the miracle that is the NBA division rule — still hold the tiebreaker between the two teams, the Hawks swept them four games during the regular season.  Young, brash, and athletic, just like they were two seasons ago, the Hawks have finally added the next piece to the puzzle — experience.

“(Losing to Boston in 2008) put us right in the position where we are today,” Hawks coach Mike Woodson told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Monday. “When we lost Game 7, after learning how to play playoff basketball, it left a sick feeling in all of our stomachs that summer because we knew that we pushed the best team in basketball to the max, but we just couldn’t get it done. Then, coming back into last season, these guys were hungry. Once you taste it, you don’t want to go the other way. (Since then) we’ve been playing basketball looking ahead and that’s how you build your team.”

So Boston created the monster that now preys on the C’s old, aging blood.  Terrific news.  That tough 2008 series wasn’t only a confidence booster.  It screamed to the NBA with a megaphone, “HAWKS HAVE NEXT!”

“The fans of Atlanta weren’t really following us (in 2008) and then it was, ‘Hey, this team might have some potential,’ ” said Zaza Pachulia. “Since that time we’ve been going forward and forward. This team is still going up.”

After playing the Celtics, the Hawks hadn’t arrived yet but there could be no questioning they were on the rise.  And they loved their first taste of playoff basketball.

“There’s a different intensity (in the playoffs),” said Pachulia. “There’s harder fouls, which is so much fun. I like it because it’s like real basketball. During the season you play one game and move on. But in the playoffs, one possession might beat you and send you to vacation. It’s so much fun that you want to stay there. So you make sure you do everything the right way.”

But the Hawks still haven’t done everything the right way.  Not yet.  They have become a team to reckon with, but still haven’t beaten an elite team in the postseason. The 2008 loss to the Celtics was followed by last season’s sweep at the hands of the Cleveland Cavaliers, leaving the Hawks with still more to prove.    With Jamal Crawford joining the same nucleus Boston saw two seasons ago, this could be the year they take the next step.

“You’ve got to get in (the playoffs) first,” said Woodson. “Then anything is possible.”

But there’s one caveat.

“The experience we get, we’ve got to use it,” said Pachulia.

And use it at the right time.  Playoff time.

This first video is weird. Really strange. It’s completely silent, and Josh Smith is doing odd things to Mike Bibby.

Maybe we should hook Josh Smith up with Steve Nash. But while Smith was apparently serious with his shoulder groping, at least Nash is just joking here. The digs of Robin Lopez are great (“If you were a little more like me, you might be on SportsCenter once in a while.”).

Once in a while, someone else’s article catches my eye. Sometimes, it’s because the article is so spot-on I wish I’d written it myself. Other times, it’s because the article enlightens me with something I never knew. Still other times, it’s because I disagree with whatever’s written. No matter what the reason, I dish it off to another writer to make his/her point. You know, throwing some dimes.

1. ESPNBoston’s Chris Forsberg has the first edition of his new Celtics Mailbag.  One of the many, many things he talks about is whether Perk and Sheed will reach the league’s technical foul limit and be forced to miss a game or more:

Captain Paul Pierce suggested earlier this season that players had talked with Wallace about avoiding the suspension limit since it’s clear the Celtics can ill-afford to lose players, particularly at a time like this when injuries have mounted. Perkins has to be disappointed that a pair of technicals acquired on the West Coast trip to close out 2009 were not overturned, as he had previously hoped. The guess here: Wallace and Perkins both finish the year about 16-17, maybe miss a game, but any tech-induced absence reminds them they need to cool it.

Forsberg has plenty of great insight, and talks about subjects ranging from the young kids’ playing time to whether the C’s will pull the trigger on a trade before the deadline. Definitely worth the read.

2. Zach Lowe of Celtics Hub writes about things the New Jersey Nets are good at in his game preview.

Some examples? Not having Vince Carter, complaining about girls, and losing large numbers of games consecutively.

3. Brendan Jackson implores Celtics fans to continue booing Mike Bibby.

4. CelticsBlog’s Greg Payne examines Paul Pierce’s new free throw shooting form.

5. NESN’s Liam Martin writes that the Celtics championship hopes lie in Rajon Rondo’s hands.

6. 4 Sport Boston has a cool new line of clothing called Perk-Wear. 

If anybody wants to buy me a hoodie, please feel free.

Wanna throw your own dime, and get someone’s article recognized? Email me at jayking@celticstown.com or follow me on Twitter.

Soon after getting outplayed by the Atlanta Hawks for the second time this season, the Celtics are eager to take another crack at them.

“It’s the best thing in the world,” Kendrick Perkins said about the opportunity to play the Hawks only three days after suffering Friday night’s 93-85 loss.

But if the Celtics don’t change how they played the Hawks the past two times, Perkins may not be singing the same tune after the game.
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The Atlanta Hawks, led by Jamal Crawford and his  14 fourth quarter points, held off a late rally by the Boston Celtics to win 93-85.

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