It's comforting to know that between his busy schedule of winning NBA titles, Finals MVP awards and hitting game-winners (not to mention throwing gang signs and getting stabbed in clubs) that Paul Pierce reads my blog. That much is clear after Pierce once again took over in the fourth quarter last night as the Celtics beat the Hawks, 103-102 at the Garden.
Things didn't look good for Boston as Marvin Williams (14 points) hit a 3-pointer with seven seconds left, putting Atlanta (6-1) up 102-101.
No worries though since we have the Truth. Pierce (game high 34 points, 6 rebounds) hit a turnaround, fadeaway jumper over Al Horford with .5 seconds left.
It's quite early in the season but Pierce could not be playing better basketball as the Celtics (8-1) won their sixth game in a row.
For whatever reason, the C's continue to play poorly in the first half (something that will have to change over the long run since you cannot count on performances like the last couple games).
The Hawks were up 31-24 after the first quarter and took a 16-point lead in the second quarter before Boston tied it up with an 18-2 run. The game was tied at 51 going into halftime.
For the rest of the game, the Celts continued to make plays while the Hawks stubbornly hung around and refused to go away. Atlanta took the third quarter, 26-25 before Boston eked out the fourth 27-25.
Kevin Garnett had a juicy double-double with 25 points, 12 rebounds and four assists. Ray Allen added 17 points and seven rebounds (five offense boards has to be a career-high) and Rajon Rondo dished out 10 assists. Kendrick Perkins continued to be solid with nine points and eight rebounds.
For the Hawks, Joe Johnson (28 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds) was the star while Mike Bibby scored 16 points. Veterans Flip Murray (14 points) and Maurice Evans (13 points) had strong games off the bench.
Atlanta shot a blistering 59% as a team on threes (13 of 22) while Boston (5 of 24) fired up plenty of bricks. Outside of Pierce, the main reason that the Celts won was because they got to the line and converted (34 of 42 to Atlanta's 27 of 33) and grabbed 11 more rebounds (43-32).
This budding rivalry is starting to get good after last night's epic early-season game. Even without star Josh Smith, the Hawks pushed the Celtics to the limit and it would not be surprising at all to see these teams meet again next spring.
In the meantime, Denver comes to the Garden tomorrow night with old foe Chauncey Billups leading the Nuggets while Allen Iverson took his place in Detroit.
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