POST GAME ATLANTA

WOULD WYC PLEASE GET THE CHARTER TO FLY THE MAINE RED CLAWS BACK TO BOSTON AND PICK UP THE CELTICS!!

Only words to describe this..............out side of Rondo............They all sucked!!!!!!!!!!!

Not the team I saw since the All Star break!!!!

First time since 1994 Char. Hornets they went 0 from 3 point land.

NEXT GAME TUESDAY 7:30 @ ATLANTA - CSNE/TNT

Gotta Cool Down!!!!!!!!!

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POST GAME WEEI 850 AM

FAST BREAK: C’S LOSE THEIR COOL IN HOT-LANTA
By Ryan Hadfield

The Celtics fell 83-74 on Sunday night in Game 1 of their first round match-up with the Hawks. Rajon Rondo led the way for Boston with 20 points, but was ejected after arguing a call and bumping into official Marc Davis. Kevin Garnett started poorly, but finished with 20 points (8-of-19 shooting) and 12 rebounds. For the Hawks, Josh Smith scored 22 points and grabbed 18 rebounds.

WHAT WENT RIGHT

Taking Over: Rondo has been extremely passive in terms of looking for his own shot this season. When the rest of his team struggled in the first half Sunday, Rondo called his own number, scoring 12 points (6-of-9 shooting) and dishing out four assists. He was assertive because he needed to be.Rondo finished with 20 points with eleven assists and four steals.

It’s frightening to think how ugly this game could have got if not for Rondo’s performance. All year long the Big Three have stated this is Rondo’s team, and Game 1 was proof of that.

Getting Off the Mat: Several times — especially in the opening stages of the second half — the C’s looked primed to make a run and cut the deficit to single digits. The Hawks did a great job thwarting those attempts, and it wasn’t until late in the fourth quarter that Boston closed the gap to five following a 21-7 run. The Celtics then dwindled the advantage down to as little as four with just over a minute left, before a Rondo was ejected with 41 seconds left.

It would have been easy for Boston to call it a night, most notably while the deficit was floating between 10 and 15 points for the better part of the game. Boston struggled, sure, but its effort never relented. The Celtics’ rust was palpable — they shot – percent from the field, yet were still in contention late in the contest. If the Celtics can play with the same mettle the rest of the series, their desired results should follow.

WHAT WENT WRONG

Hit in the Mouth: The Hawks shot 12-of-22 (54.5 percent) from the field in the first quarter. Atlanta got to the foul line, created easy transition buckets, and sustained the fervent pace which clearly gives it an advantage over the older Celtics.

Perhaps part of the strong start is because of the excitement and momentum of playing in front of their home crowd. Another part of it could be due to the Celtics being rusty from resting their starters. Either way, Boston didn’t do anything to stop the bleeding. The C’s never got to the line and missed all seven of their 3-point attempts in the first half (the Celtics 0-of-11 from beyond the arc).

Tickets Sold Out: Garnett‘s poor first half played a massive role in the team falling behind by double-digits. The Big Ticket was aggressive early which normally translates to good things for the Celtics. Sunday night, however, KG shot 1-of-9 from the field in the first half. Call it a product of rust, it would have been wise for Garnett to position himself deeper in the paint when his jumper wasn’t falling.

Meanwhile Garnett’s adversary, Smith, scored 15 points (7-of-12 shooting) and grabbed 11 boards in the first half alone.

Ray of Light: Game 1 went sour rather quickly for the C’s. While that’s certainly concerning, a bigger issue is the health of Ray Allen. Last Wednesday Doc Rivers said Allen was probable to play in Sunday night’s series opener, by Saturday the prognosis changed to doubtful, and when it came time to tip off the playoff run Allen was in a suit and tie.

The Celtics could very well survive this series against Atlanta and maybe beat the Derrick Rose-less Bulls without Allen, but Allen makes both of those feats easier.

Losing Your Cool: The Celtics undoubtedly will be holding their collective breathe while awaiting the league’s ruling on Rondo bumping official Marc Davis. There is a chance Boston could be without him for Game 2.

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Rapid Reaction: Hawks 83, C's 74 (Game 1)

By Chris Forsberg | ESPNBoston.com

Celtics guard Rajon Rondo kept his team in the game during the early going.
ATLANTA -- Rapid reaction after the Atlanta Hawks defeated the Boston Celtics 83-74 in Game 1 of an Eastern Conference quarterfinal series Sunday night at Philips Arena:

HOW THE GAME WAS WON
Josh Smith posted a game-high 22 points and 18 rebounds, but it might have been the big-time shots of Kirk Hinrich (four 3-pointers, 12 points) and Jeff Teague (15 points, including some clutch late-game buckets) that propelled the Hawks. Kevin Garnett overcame early shooting woes to score 20 points (to go along with 12 rebounds), while Rajon Rondo chipped in 20 of his own (to go along with 11 assists) before he was ejected in the fourth quarter.

TURNING POINT
When Jason Collins is scoring buckets... well, it's not a good sign for your ball club. Collins, who went scoreless in 19 of the 30 games he appeared in during the regular season for the Hawks, got a layup with under six minutes to go in the second quarter, putting Atlanta on top 42-25. The Celtics had trimmed their initial 17-point deficit to nine in the second quarter, only for Collins and the Hawks to push it to 19 with an 11-1 burst in which Boston didn't generate a field goal over a five-minute span. Collins finished with 6 points, 5 rebounds, and a plus-15 in plus/minus.

BOLD PLAY OF THE GAME
The Celtics rallied back from that 19-point deficit with a late first-half burst that featured Rondo delivering a sick no-look feed to a cutting Avery Bradley for a reverse layup that cut the deficit to 46-35 with 1:33 to go. Unfortunately for Boston, Bradley followed with two "cold" plays of the game, missing both a reverse layup and an open corner 3-pointer with a chance to help trim the lead to single digits. Bradley, playing his first career postseason game, was 3 of 10 in the first half for 8 points (he finished with 10 points).

A FORGETTABLE FIRST HALF
The Celtics shot a mere 36.6 percent (15 of 41) and missed all seven 3-pointers they hoisted (the Hawks in comparison shot 48.8 percent and made a quartet of triples). What's more, Kevin Garnett missed six of the seven shots he took (finally rattling home a mid-range jumper late in the half), while Brandon Bass didn't attempt an actual shot in 14:20 of floor time (settling for two free throws for his only points).

C'S MAKE A LATE CHARGE
Unable to seemingly get their deficit to single digits at any point during the middle frames, Bosto got over the hump in the final quarter, charging within five on two different occasions. First, previously ice cold Smith buried a jumper with Garnett blanketed him at the elbow, then Jeff Teague drilled a 3-pointer making it 76-68 with 3:05 to play. Unfazed, Boston got their deficit to four (78-74 with a minute to play) only for Rondo to lose his temper at the wrong moment...

RONDO TOSSED, BUMPS OFFICIAL
... With 41 seconds to play, Rondo took umbrage with a loose ball foul on Bass, who was trying to force a jump ball with Smith on the floor trying to protect the ball in a scramble. When referee Marc Davis whistled the call, Rondo immediately disputed the call, getting tagged with a technical, then appeared to bump Davis, earning a second technical and automatic ejection. Now the league will have to determine if Rondo deserves a suspension for his actions (he was already suspended two games earlier this season for throwing a ball at a game official).

ALLEN SUITS UP (NO, A REAL SUIT)
Celtics shooting guard Ray Allen sat out Sunday's Game 1 due to right ankle soreness (Doc Rivers said he remains day-to-day moving forward). Allen, who was joined by rookie forward JaJuan Johnson on the inactive list, did sit on the bench in a suit alongside his teammates.

WHAT IT MEANS
The Celtics put themselves in a tough spot. Not only did they dig themselves a big hole in Game 1 (and were unable to climb out), they might have done the same with the series. Game 2 is a must-win game and they might not have the services of Rondo to aid them after his late-game outburst. Boston played better over the final three quarters, but was simply unable to overcome the damage inflicted by a hot start by the Hawks.

After he basically threw the game in putting Atlanta into OT the last time the Hawks played in Boston - you tell me HOW they NBA puts Marc Davis on this game tonight?

mrkleen09 wrote:After he basically threw the game in putting Atlanta into OT the last time the Hawks played in Boston - you tell me HOW they NBA puts Marc Davis on this game tonight?

As odd as that assignment is, you absolutely cannot lose your cool in playoff basketball. Rondo threw away any chance the Celtics had in this game, and he may have gotten himself suspended by bumping Davis, putting his team's chance in this series at peril. I don't care if the ref is Josh Smith's uncle, you cannot, cannot lose your cool like that. That is on Rondo.

Let me get it out of the way up front...you are right Outside.

However - A that is a jump ball. Period. B - Davis is quite possibly the worst ref in the NBA...and clearly blew that call, a bunch of others tonight - and made a number of very questionable calls just a few weeks ago on April 11 when these teams met.

The NBA is really a disgrace. There should be nothing "odd" about the ref assignments. They should make it their business to keep refs who are blatantly against one team or another OFF their playoff schedule.

Barkley and Shaq said it was a terrible bad call, you let the players decide the game at the end when its that close, it was such an obvious jump ball....how do thses fuckin stinkin refs get these jobs? calls should be reviewed if its that blatently wrong lets fine or suspend the refs, David Stern gives these guys way too much power.

TNT halftime crew just showed the call before an obvious out of bounds off Josh Smith that went against us, they got the ball.....same fockin blind ref, how pathetic. Barkley, Kenny, Shaq all routinely pointed out 2 bad calls in a row.....conspiracy, get rid of that bum he obviously can't do his job!!!

Doc Rivers RE Rondo's ejection: "We always worry (about a suspension), but I would be surprised (if it happened)."


We'll see if Doc's right. I personally think RR is gone for game 2.

MrKleen, you are also right -- it was a bad call, as was the out-of-bounds call.

But the "blame the ref" game is a false one. Whether you view calls as bad with intent or merely bad, the Celtics are the ones who put themselves in the position of being behind at the end and at the mercy of bad calls. If they'd played the first half they way they should have, they would have been up by double digits with a few minutes to go so that any bad calls would be irrelevant. That's the attitude that champions take. They don't fall into the "it's all the refs' fault" trap.

Even if Rondo is suspended, this series is not over. My guess is that the C's will play with the proper attitude in game 2. They are still the better team. All they have to do is prove it. They didn't do that in game 1.

Outside

I was shaking my heat right off the bat in the 1st quarter. At the start of the first few Celtic possessions, Rondo gives the ball to Avery to bring up the court. When he finally brings it up himself, he throws a lazy pass to Avery, which leads to a steal and an easy 2 for the Hawks.

Earth to Rondo: You are the floor general and Avery is the guy who moves without the ball. Next time, try to work with what got you there instead of trying something new at a most inopportune time.

That alone showed me that the Celtics did not think that EVERY POSSESSION is important. Take away the dreadful 1st quarter and we win the game. We only lost the 2nd quarter by one point and we actually won the 3rd and 4th quarters.

Rondo, next game, try to pretend the first 5 minutes of the game is important!! You know, work the ball, find the open man, that kind of stuff. Oh, yeah, I forgot. You can't do that from the bench.

Another thing: Bass took zero shots in the first half? I think that is another byproduct of Rondo's mindset. Nobody was getting the ball to Bass (or anyone else, for that matter) in his sweet spot. Later on in the game, yes, but not early on. That reinforces my opinion that Bass is not all that good at creating his own shot. He is good at lots of things, just not that one.

Rondo scored 10 of the first 16 Celtic points. That is playing into the opponent's coach's game plan. Made him look like a fricken' genius.

Steal one in Atlanta? Good luck with that, with Rondo sitting in the locker room.

I won't blame the ref's (even though they were terrible!), PP played a terrible offensive game. He did, however, do a pretty good job on Joe Johnson when he was on him. Johnson was very frustrated during the game.

However, letting these guys get so far ahead early in the game just gave them the confidence they needed Josh Smith didn't implode the way I thought he might in the second half. He stuck with it and played a great game. Garnett let him have his shots early and he just kept it up.

I hope this is a lesson learned, they can't lose Tuesday's game. They are much better than they showed last night and still could have won the game if the ball went in the hole a little more. It's a series,boys, and we better watch out or we will be watching the rest of the league finish the playoffs if we are not careful.

I expect a totally different game tomorrow, my fingers and toes are crossed!
If Rondo gets suspended this could be huge. Will this bring Ray off the bench?

Outside wrote:MrKleen, you are also right -- it was a bad call, as was the out-of-bounds call.

But the "blame the ref" game is a false one. Whether you view calls as bad with intent or merely bad, the Celtics are the ones who put themselves in the position of being behind at the end and at the mercy of bad calls. If they'd played the first half they way they should have, they would have been up by double digits with a few minutes to go so that any bad calls would be irrelevant. That's the attitude that champions take. They don't fall into the "it's all the refs' fault" trap.

In a 4 point game - when there are 3 or 4 blatantly incorrect calls that up more than the aforementioned 4 points- I think it is perfectly appropriate to mention the refs.

I again agree if Pierce even had a mediocre game, if KG boxed out a few more times, if Rondo didnt start the game sleep walking - then you dont even need to mention the refs, but how is it that each and every night - the Refs need to assert their ego into the games in the NBA? It is the only sport where the refs think they are also on stage.

Marc Davis is a terrible ref who has already shown not only an inability to do a good job, but even worse - an inability to do an objective job when it comes to Boston. He should NOT be on any Celtics games.

Not blaming the refs - but come on. That was disgraceful.

I dont know what the rules say about Rondos situation but I hope he does not get suspended.

Even if he does I think we have a good chance in the second game if we just play hard defense from the 1q.

Refs sucked... both ways, we have to deal with it.

C's caught a break late on a bad bass back out front that that went into the back court, refs said it was tipped and allowed the play to continue after the C's recovered.

Replays showed no Hawk really even came close to touching it.

They wanted this game a whole lot more than we did at the onset so it appeared ( watched the first quarter at the half)

To big a hole to climb out of. And with RR stupid move in protest he's out for the next one no doubt.... as bad as the refs were you cannot touch them when protesting like that. 1 game suspension, Stern really has no choice IMHO.

Circle the wagons we are in for a rough game 2!

beat

PS

Missed the first quarter of the game, Marcus had his first sping basketball games yesterday early eve, 4 schools play 2 games the next 4 Sunday evenings, 16 minute running time halfs.

We won both yesterday 47-37 and 42-27.

Marcus has been hitting the weights quite a bit the past month and is down to 165. Still can't pitch for a lick (waiting for the MRI) but he runs better than ever and there is no pain in his arm or shoulder and considering he hasn't shot a basketball much lately shot extreemly well, had 13 points ( 1 three) in the first game and 15 in the second ( 5 threes ) Certainly opened a few eyes yesterday.

The problem I have is that people are focusing on whether the contact was intentional or not when it is obvious that no matter what the rules say "intentional contact" is not the deal breaker.

If it was then Bradley would be tossed/suspended too since he grabbed the official after Rondo was tossed so it is not only if the contact is intentional that is ruled but also the intent behind it.

This might seem like semantics and petty details but I think things should be straight in regard to this.

The rule reads: "Any player or coach guilty of intentional physical contact with an official shall automatically be suspended without pay for one game. A fine and/or longer period of suspension will result if circumstances so dictate." which would mean Rondo is out as in my mind was intentional.

Still the question stands why some physical contact is ok and not other like in this video the only person that was suspended was Barnes. There is no doubt that the contact Terry makes with the officials is intentional since he is trying to claw his way through them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZH0gpgs8as

I think Rondo was pursuing the ref, the ref stopped suddenly and Rondo tripped and bumped into him.

I would be surprised if he was suspended.

Hi,
Yes, the refs were terrible last night. The foul on Bass instead of a clear jump-ball was plain outrageous.
But the Celtics put themselves in that position. All Celtics shooters couldn't hit a jumper. Defense, especially in the 1st quarter was..., well, there was no defense at all. But the worst was their attitude: they played as if it was a practice game during a summer camp. I hope Doc will do something about it before Tue night.
My hope is that if the Celtics realize that it's playoffs and start hitting jumpers and play their usual defense they will win. With all due respect to Josh Smith, he can't hit those rainbow jumpers all game long every game. Also, another ray of hope is that with or, rather without most of the jumpers falling in, Celtics managed to go through Atl defense and score in the paint.
Beside RR, who kept the game within reach, I'd like to note sticky defense of SP and MP.

AK

mrkleen09 wrote:I think Rondo was pursuing the ref, the ref stopped suddenly and Rondo tripped and bumped into him.

I would be surprised if he was suspended.

The ref turned from Rondo to hit him with the initial T. Perhaps he was doing so to avoid looking at him but he knew he was right there, and Rondo knew the ref was right there. Was the contact intentional? IMHO yes. He bumped the ref, did it have something to do with the ref not moving? Perhaps. Thing is regardless what led up to RR getting pissed he has to avoid the contact period especially when having just been T'd up.

Ref may have sucked but we are the one's that dug our own grave last evening and then spent the last 36 minutes trying to find a way out, Apparently we needed about 40.

No doubt in my mind RR is out for game 2. I'll be surprised if he's not. And if I'm a Hawk fan and he's allowed to play I'm thinking this is fixed and Stern has no balls.

beat

The rest Doc gave his starters also cost them their rhythm. We came out colder than 3-day old mackerel. They came out with energy, we didn't. Our shots didn't drop (how's that for an understatement?). That's because we played a team that could only play small-ball. We lost because that's what we tried to play in the 1st half. We should have played to our strength, which in this game was our size, and instead we played small. A real small team will beat a fake-wannabe small team. We should have taken it to the rack at every opportunity. Just ram it down their throats and keep doing it until they show they can stop it. Without Horford and Zaza they weren't going to be able to and the 2nd half showed that.

They showed a stat that said that Atlanta has more playoff experience on their roster than we do. Part of that is because this Atlanta Hawk team has played together for years. With the loss of Perk and Green we have to remember that our roster has a lot of little-to-no-playoff-experience players (Steamer, Dooling, Bradley just to name a few, and those are the ones getting minutes. Include JJJ and Moore to round out the roster and we have playoff experience concentrated in a few players). Of course, Atlanta hasn't been able to convert that playoff experience into anything other than a nice long summer vacation.

1. Rondo had a great game. He was even hitting his outside shots (one of the few). That's the good news. The bad news is that you don't want Rondo taking a lot of outside shots. Doc has a rule against 4th quarter Ts. How about last minute Ts? Rondo sure broke that rule every which way. Rondo's saying "he tripped and bumped the official because he didn't know the ref stopped". That's BS. The ref leaned away, stopped to blow the T, almost posed in that dumb ballerina position for a second and didn't straighten up until after Rondo tapped him. Rondo's brain broke down. Yeah, it was a horrible call, but that doesn't give you an excuse to lose it. I think Rondo's gone for a game. The only out I see is if the ref publicly says he called the 2nd T on Rondo because of something Rondo said and not because of the bump. That will give the league the fig leaf they need to not enforce the rule. If the ref doesn't say anything, and I doubt he will, I expect the league will suspend Rondo for 1 game.

2. Pierce and KG were 15-37. Pierce just couldn't stop himself from taking 3s even though he went 0-6 and the team went 0-11. I know KG doesn't like playing 5 but in the first half he tried to play 3. Launching one missed shot from downrange after another and, when he did bring the ball in closer, he took fadeaways instead of trying to create contact. Finally, in the second half, KG started to get more aggressive but by that time we were in a deep hole. His shooting % went up too. What a concept! Take the ball to the hole and you either score or get to the line! Fadeaway and if you miss you're out of position for a rebound. These two guys had no shooting rhythm last night.

3. In the 1st half our bigs didn't play big. KG and Bass played Atlanta's game. Bass looked confused out there and KG played small. The only Celtic big who played BIG was Steamer. He challenged rebounds, tipped balls to try and get a second shot at them. He looked around and saw he was bigger than everybody else and thought "gee, maybe I can do something with that". 9 rebounds in 19 minutes, 4 of them offensive. We've seen many times how opponents will get easy weakside offensive rebounds due to the Celtics' defensive rotations. The offensive rebounds Steamer got yesterday were just pure hard work and hustle.

4. I have to give credit to Josh Smith. I'm not a huge fan of his, I put him in the same category as LeBum when it comes to giving 4 quarter of hard work, but last night he played hard all the way through. He had more difficulty scoring when KG covered him, but even then he still did well (just not as ridiculously well).

5. I hate that "Rondo posting up the other point guard" play. I hope I never see it again. Yeah, Rondo's actually really good at taking his man down low, but when they run that play the rest of the Celtics just stand around and watch. Our movement stops. The handful of points we might gain from that play is offset by the loss of flow and continuity in the offense. They're hoping the other team will double Rondo, but it never happens. We are at our best, in the halfcourt set, when everybody else is moving and Rondo is on top watching the play unfold before him, or when he is taking his man off the dribble and creating opportunities by forcing the defense to respond. We suck when everybody stands around and that's what happened with that play. We're not forcing the defense to do anything. And what's with that bullshit about having Bradley bringing the ball up over halfcourt instead of Rondo in the beginning? I don't blame Doc because KG and Bass and Pierce and Bradley were missing open jumpers, but the Rondo postup and Bradley bring up plays are not the quality of coaching I've come to expect from the best coach in the NBA.

6. We made some nice runs in the 4th quarter but we had a few possessions where we came down and rushed our offense and took unnecessarily early shots. Empty possessions, when you're fighting back from 19 down, are not acceptable. We played like we were the newbies and they were the former champions. Pierce, in particular, I think, was especially guilty of taking those early shots.

You can't have a 35 point half and expect to win, and yet, we had a shot. We went 0-11 from 3. We go 3-11 and this is a very different game. We're going to need Keyon Dooling and Bradley to have a big game because I'm expecting Rondo to sit out the next game. Needless to say, we also need the bodysnatchers to return the real Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett too.

bob

.

Like I said earlier, I will not bail the Celtics out on this one. How many times have we seen them get themselves into this big hole and then spend the rest of their game trying to dig themselves out. Too cocky. Shooting outside bombs, not hitting them and then not rebounding, set Atlanta up big time.

I do believe they will suspend Rondo, he is not above any rules. Beat--you are right, tomorrow night is going to be one hell of a battle for them, Atlanta smells blood!!

The (the Hawks) di indeed smell blood in the water

just saying

If there ever was a time to put us to the test and come out pissed and guns drawn that time will be in the FIRST friggin quarter in game 2. No hole to climb out of. Win or loose Atlanta must know we will challenge their effort with ours ten fold.

think we might just steal game 2. And maybe the Hawks will be just a little to ready.........and thus be a little overcnfidant and then a bit lax... can happen you know.

we shall see,

beat

beat wrote:

mrkleen09 wrote:I think Rondo was pursuing the ref, the ref stopped suddenly and Rondo tripped and bumped into him.

I would be surprised if he was suspended.

The ref turned from Rondo to hit him with the initial T. Perhaps he was doing so to avoid looking at him but he knew he was right there, and Rondo knew the ref was right there. Was the contact intentional? IMHO yes. He bumped the ref, did it have something to do with the ref not moving? Perhaps. Thing is regardless what led up to RR getting pissed he has to avoid the contact period especially when having just been T'd up.

Ref may have sucked but we are the one's that dug our own grave last evening and then spent the last 36 minutes trying to find a way out, Apparently we needed about 40.

No doubt in my mind RR is out for game 2. I'll be surprised if he's not. And if I'm a Hawk fan and he's allowed to play I'm thinking this is fixed and Stern has no balls.

beat

beat,

It is fixed, to some extent and Mr. Potato Head has no balls.













Coincidence? I think not.

bob


.

Bob

Probably beats having no clothes.

beat

Hey Beat:

If the Hawks don't come out lax, could we call them EX Lax? (lol)

MD!

Celtics have to find the paint and early if they are going to weather the push by Atlanta in the first quarter. You know they will be looking to throw a knockout blow early.

Surprised Doc did not get Daniels engaged at all. With his defense and his ability to score in the paint would have made loads of sense. Second, he has played very well given time in the last several games to earn minutes.

Moore should also have been given minutes to see if he could bring his shooting ability into the game. A couple of pops from 3 point land could have reversed the crap Atlanta was throwing up!

KG is still not comfortable with playing the 5 position. He was god awful taking shots from outside. Only when he began to move into the paint in the latter part of the third period did his scoring totals pick up.

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Rondo is gone for one game