The Celtics beat the Hawks, 98-88, last night at the Garden. With Boston (46-12) likely to finish No. 1 or 2 in the Eastern Conference and Atlanta (24-33) looking like a safe bet to slide in at No. 7 or No. 8, these two teams could meet in the first round and no joke, the Hawks aren't a pushover anymore.
With recently acquired point guard Mike Bibby (14 points, 9 assists), emerging star Josh Smith (22 points, 9 rebounds, 3 blocks), all-star Joe Johnson (9 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals) and rookie of the year candidate Al Horford (14 points, 11 rebounds, 2 blocks), the Hawks are a young and dangerous team.
The Celtics fifth win in a row wasn't easy but Paul Pierce (game-high 30 points, 6 rebounds, 2 blocks), Kevin Garnett (20 points, 16 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals) and Ray Allen (17 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals) all played well. Kendrick Perkins continued his stellar play of late with 11 points, 12 rebounds, six assists and four blocks. Last night and the Bobcats win on Friday might have been the best back-to-back performances by Perk in the NBA.
Boston jumped out to a 26-22 lead after the first quarter but Atlanta went into halftime up 44-41 thanks to a sad 15-point second frame by the home team.
Pierce, who only had seven points in the first half went to work in the third quarter, scoring 17 points as he was on fire from everywhere. It was also KG's most complete performance since coming back from the abdominal injury. He was a force on both ends and had a sick behind the back pass down low to Glen Davis (6 points) for a reverse layup.
The Hawks never really went away but the C's took the third (29-23) and the fourth (28-21). Josh Childress (12 points, 4 rebounds), who still has the exact same goofy 'fro for the Hawks was decent. Rajon Rondo had six points, eight assists and two steals but he was just 2-of-11 from the floor, a vintage performance from last season's nightmare.
Boston shot 44.6% for the game to Atlanta's 39.5%. Neither team did much from downtown as the Hawks were a woeful 3-for-16 and the Celts were 7-for-21. Atlanta (21-28) curiously got to the line more (17-21) but the C's had eight more assists (26-18) and five more steals (9-4).
The Celtics practice the next few days before what has been called their regular season game of the year with the Detroit Pistons at the Garden on Wednesday. It's the third and final matchup of the season between the two top teams in the East. The first two contests were great with each team winning on the road.
Boston likely will have some reinforcements too as Sam Cassell was released by the Clippers on Friday and is expected to join the C's today as long as he clears waivers. P.J. Brown could also make his Celtics debut against the Pistons. It should be another classic and with the Celts up 3.5 games on Detroit, a win on Wednesday would go a long way towards wrapping up the top seed in the playoffs.
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