Dominique Wilkins not surprised by Celtics

http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/celtics/2016/04/bulpett_dominique_wilkins_not_surprised_by_celtics




Bulpett: Dominique Wilkins not surprised by Celtics



Steve Bulpett


Tuesday, April 26, 2016





ATLANTA — Dominique Wilkins didn’t wait for a greeting.

The Celtics just defeated his Hawks, 104-95, in overtime Sunday night to even the series, and ’Nique — Hall Of Fame Class of ’06, team vice president and TV color commentator — had a bit of gloating to do. Even if it didn’t make him entirely happy.

“I told you,” Wilkins said as he prepared his postgame on-court standup back to the Atlanta studio. “I told you.”

Indeed, the legend informed us quite clearly last week at Philips Arena after the Hawks had taken a 2-0 lead that this first-round playoff series wasn’t over, despite the chorus deriding the Celtics for their hideous first quarters in Games 1 and 2.

He insisted it would be a different world in Boston.

“I like this team,” he said of the Celts then. “I like their coach. In a way, he’s kind of a really laid-back guy. He doesn’t get upset with them too often, but he’s found a way to get the guys to buy into his system, and it’s working.”

Cut to Sunday. As he stood on the parquet floor and adjusted his earpiece, Dominique doubled down.

The Hawks rolled into town after two wins, having put the hammer down early in each. They had little reason to believe that things would be vastly different in the Garden. Take just one game to give themselves a chance to finish off the series at home, and, hey, why not just take both of them and get a little rest before a Cleveland encounter?

But Wilkins warned against overconfidence last week, and, much to his dismay, he saw his fears come to fruition, though giving credit to the Celtics for the Hawks’ predicament.

“I knew these were going to be trap games,” he said. “When it’s like that, you’ve got to come out for 48 minutes and play against these guys, because they’re the scrappiest team in the NBA.”

Scrappiest team in the NBA? That’s a pretty strong endorsement. Really?

“Absolutely,” said Wilkins. “Hey, look, you look at talent-wise top to bottom, they’re not like a lot of other teams. But what they do is they come after you. They get into you.

“They . . . play . . . hard,” ‘Nique added, pausing between each word for emphasis. “There’s not a lot of teams willing to do that like they are. Even when you look at some of the better teams, they don’t play with the intensity that these guys play with. These guys play hard, man.”

Wilkins insisted, too, the venue had something to do with what befell his Hawks. He tried to warn them.

“I knew it was a long way from over because you still had to go to Boston,” he said. “I told you. Hey, this place, this town is a hard place to play, period. And I don’t think people really understand that, how hard it is. I don’t care what their team looks like, it’s hard to play in this city if you’re the other team. It’s because of these fans, and the fact that the Celtics play hard. They play hard.”

No one harder than Marcus Smart perhaps. Before last Tuesday’s game in Atlanta, Wilkins stood beyond the baseline and brought up Smart’s name. A few moments later, the writer turned to Marcus, loosening for his early warmup, pointed to ‘Nique and said, “This guy just gave you the biggest compliment he can. He said you could have played in his era.”

With that, Smart came over, shook Wilkins’ hand and absorbed some Hall of Fame wisdom.

Late Sunday, after Smart had switched onto the much larger Paul Millsap and made huge plays at both ends of the floor in the last quarter and overtime, Dominique was reminded of his “play in our era” endorsement.

“With his toughness? Oh, yeah,” he said. “Oh, yeah. The thing is, he’s not afraid to throw his body around. He gets in there and bangs. The guy has seven or eight rebounds and 20 points off the bench? Man. He’s a tough son of a gun.”

And now, a week after it appeared a short resolution might be in order, the Celtics and Hawks have a tough son of a series on their hands. It’s best two-out-of-three with a trip to Cleveland on the line.

The task is even more difficult for the Bostonians, who must now prove they can win away from home. But they have at least given themselves a shot nearly no one believed they had just days ago.

“I felt funny coming into this game,” Wilkins said Sunday. “I knew if Boston won this one, it would change the series. Now it’s anybody’s series. You know, back to the drawing board. We’ve got to take care of homecourt like they’ve taken care of homecourt. It’s anybody’s series.”

Only those who didn’t listen to ’Nique are surprised.



bob


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