Turning back the clock to say 2004, KG had 28 points, 14 rebounds, five blocks and three steals as the Celtics edged the Hawks 83-80 in Game 6 at TD Garden. Boston clinched the series 4-2 and advances to face the Philadelphia 76ers (who wrapped up their series with the Bulls tonight as well), beginning on Saturday night.
Give credit to Atlanta: for a franchise with a dubious history of no-shows, choking and irrelevance, they made this series and particularly this game way harder than it should have been. However, it must be noted that with Boston clinging to an 80-79 lead with under a minute left, the Hawks couldn't have shot themselves in the foot more. Josh Smith (18 points, 9 rebounds) took a brainless jumper that missed, Joe Johnson (17 points) got blocked by Paul Pierce (18 points, 7 assists) on a layup when he had a clear path to the hoop and Al Horford (15 points, 9 rebounds) missed a free throw that would have tied it up.
It came down to the fact that the Celtics made the plays when they absolutely had to. KG hit the last bucket, a turnaround in the lane. Ray Allen (7 points) made one of two free throws (he missed two in the game!) but Paul Pierce covered for him by swishing both of his with one second left in regulation.
Other than the Game 4 blowout victory, all these games were close and low-scoring. That's why Boston had to seal this one on the defensive end since their offense was mostly MIA in key stretches tonight and all series long for that matter. For all six games, they never allowed Atlanta to score over 87 points; they held the Hawks to 84 or less in every game but one.
Rajon Rondo had a quiet 14 points and eight assists while Brandon Bass and Avery Bradley were both kept in check, to the tune of only six points apiece.
Marvin Williams (16 points, 8 rebounds) had another good performance but Jeff Teague's (5 points) forgettable night was a huge factor in Atlanta's latest season-ending loss.
The Hawks were up 23-20 after the first quarter but a 16-0 run in the second quarter put the Celtics ahead, they led 47-41 at halftime. Boston could never pull away though as Atlanta edged them 22-20 in the third and 17-16 in the fourth.
Atlanta made five more 3-pointers (7-2) but Boston worked for 10 more made free throws (19-9). The C's had four more rebounds (40-36) and the most amazing stat of all was blocks: Boston had seven more than Atlanta (11-4). Finally, thanks to KG the Celtics owned the paint (42-30).
Doc Rivers's team wanted nothing to do with a Game 7 back in Atlanta and while this series and game took them too long to finish, at least they completed the task (something the Lakers have yet to do when similarly leading the Nuggets 3-1).
We don't want to get too ahead of ourselves but this is the best path any Green and White fan could have ever dreamed of: after not having home-court in the first round, they'll have it in the Eastern Conference semifinals (5th season in a row they've made it this far). Philly will be a tougher matchup than many people think but I like Boston's chances of getting through them. Game 1 is Saturday night (8 p.m., TNT). I'll have a full preview up tomorrow night after I can gather my thoughts on the 76ers and do some more research.
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