Celtics Hawks
The NBA has released the schedule for the Celtics/Hawks first round matchup. The Celtics matched up against the Hawks three times during the regular season, winning those games handily by an average of 14 points.1
After getting blown out twice in Boston, Smith and the Hawks seemed to take out all their frustrations on a 66-win Celtics team that finished 29 games ahead of eighth-seeded Atlanta during the regular season. When the buzzer sounded, streamers fell from the ceiling of Philips Arena as if the home team had just won a championship.2
Before the game Atlanta coach Mike Woodson spoke of how his team must defend and rebound with the Celtics. The Hawks outrebounded their hosts 41-40 and didn’t let them get carried away from the field (46.9 percent shooting), but 15 Atlanta turnovers combined with the offensive anemia of everyone but Horford and sixth man Josh Childress (4 of 5 for 10 points) to doom the bottom-seed Hawks.3
He’s not making any apologies, though, and the Hawks can only hope Horford stays in the moment. The grit, leadership and emotion shown by the former Florida standout is at least giving Atlanta a glimmer of hope in their opening-round playoff series against the mighty Celtics.4
The Celtics’ 66-16 record was the best in the NBA. They had 29 more wins than the Hawks, the biggest difference between first-round opponents since Chicago was 30 games better than Miami and swept the Heat in a best-of-five series in 1996.5