POST GAME ATLANTA HAWKS

POSITIVE SIGNS GALORE

Points in the paint - Celtics- 34/ Atl. - 30
Rebounds - Celtics - 44/ Atl. - 36 Offensive Rebounds - Celtics - 16/ Atl. - 8
Turn Overs - Celtics - 12/ Atl. - 18
Field Goals - Celtics - 39-85/ Atl. - 28-68
3 pts - Celtics - 3-16/ Atl. 10- 29

NEXT GAME - MONDAY - AWAY - AT NEW YORK KNICKS - 7:30PM - CSNE/MSG

POST GAME RECAP

ESPNBOSTON.COM

Rapid reaction: Celtics 89, Hawks 81

By Chris Forsberg | ESPNBoston.com

Rapid reaction after the Boston Celtics defeated the Atlanta Hawks 89-81 on Saturday night at Philips Arena:

THE NITTY GRITTY
Rajon Rondo produced the 25th triple-double of his career (14 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists), while Paul Pierce scored a team-high 26 points and spearheaded a monster third-quarter turnaround as Boston rallied from a 19-point first-half deficit. Jared Sullinger added eight points and nine rebounds off the bench, while Kevin Garnett finished with 14 points and five rebounds. Lou Williams scored a game-high 28 points after a monster first half for the Hawks, but, like his teammates, went quiet in the second half as Atlanta shot a mere 41.2 percent overall and mustered only 50 points over the final three quarters. Josh Smith added 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Jeff Teague chipped in 17 points for the Hawks.

TURNING POINT: C'S DOMINATE THE THIRD
Down 15 coming out of halftime and threatening to wipe away all the good that took place on Friday night against the Pacers, the Celtics did what they haven't done all season: Mounted a furious and sustained comeback that actually swung the entire momentum of the game. Boston ratcheted up their defense, limiting the Hawks to 2-of-14 shooting (14.3 percent) in the frame, while forcing seven turnovers (that led to 10 points). On the offensive side, it was all Pierce. The captain went into takeover mode, connecting on 6-of-9 shots with 17 points, three rebounds, two assists, and a steal while playing the whole frame. Jared Sullinger completed an alley-oop feed from Rondo to give Boston a 61-60 lead with 3:47 to go in the frame, but Boston kept its foot on the gas and an 8-0 burst to close the frame put the Celtics out front 71-62.

NICE NIGHT FOR BASS
Brandon Bass was up and down in his return to the starting lineup on Friday, committing some careless turnovers. But he was far more good than bad on Saturday (even if he still missed a couple defensive rotations). Bass had maybe the defensive play of the night when he stepped up on a driving Smith and delivered an emphatic second-quarter swat. Bass scored 10 points on ultra-efficient 5-of-6 shooting with four rebounds, three steals, and two assists over 35:41.

WHAT IT MEANS
Doc Rivers called Friday's victory a "substance win" and that description probably doesn't do Saturday's win justice. When faced with double-digit deficits this season, the Celtics have rarely been able to even make things competitive again (often getting stuck trying to get over the hump near the end of a comeback attempt). Despite a dreadful first half, Boston got back to basics and turned the game around behind its defense in the third frame. The Celtics have now won back-to-back games for the first time since Dec. 8-12. Boston will get a day to rest before visiting the Big Apple on Monday with a chance to match their season-high three-game winning streak when they tangle with the Atlantic Division-leading New York Knicks.
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CSNE

A. SHERROD BLAKLEY

Did someone say rally?

ATLANTA — Doc Rivers is a great talker, but he'll be the first to tell you that he's not cut from the Knute Rockne school of motivational speeches.

But there's no denying whatever he said inside the Boston Celtics locker room at halftime turned around Saturday's game against Atlanta - and potentially their season - as the C's put on one of the more improbable comebacks for them this season in rallying for a 89-81 win over the Hawks.

After trailing by as many as 19 points and 15 at the half, Boston came out in the third quarter with the kind of defensive focus we hadn't seen since Friday's blowout win over Indiana.

Friday's game was arguably the Celtics' most complete performance of the season, the kind of game you seldom see performed in duplicate.

Even Doc Rivers knew that.

But there are times when Rivers can be too prophetic for his own good.

Shortly before Saturday's tip-off, he talked about how Friday's win over the Pacers showed his players just how good they could be defensively.

"I don't know if you can play that well defensively every night," Rivers said.

Clearly the Celtics couldn't ... for a half at least.

The C's have had moments of dominant play all season, but stringing together such play for more than just a few minutes here and there has been challenging for them.

And while Saturday in many ways stayed true to that trend, the Celtics were able to put together longer stretches of stellar play than usual.

That, more than anything else, helped fuel one of the team's most impressive wins of the season.

And while many will look at the 33 points Boston scored in their 33-9 third quarter, it was limiting the Hawks to just nine points that quarter that fueled the team's impressive scoring binge.

Even in the fourth quarter as the Hawks tried to scramble back in the game, the Celtics defense was locked in at all positions.

And it wasn't just one player, either.

It was the entire group, on a string, helping one another out on switches and rotations - the kind of things that Rivers has been preaching to his troops to play all season.

Well it seems they may have finally figured it out, showing an ability to get it done for more than just one game after a forgettable first half.

Lou Williams practically outscored the entire Boston team in the first quarter with 16 points compared to the Celtics' total of 18.

Lay-ups. Jumpers. 3-balls.

Atlanta got everything and anything they wanted to offensively, and backed it up with some solid play defensively.

At the half, Boston trailed 53-38 and truth be told, the game felt as though the Hawks should have been up by a lot more points.

The Celtics used 11 players in the first half with each of them having a plus-minus ratio in the negative with the "best" of the lot being Courtney Lee who was minus-2.

As for the Hawks, it was their backcourt that totally dominated the game as Williams and Jeff Teague combined for 34 points in the first half on 14-of-20 shooting in the first half.

112288 wrote: Doc Rivers is a great talker, but he'll be the first to tell you that he's not cut from the Knute Rockne school of motivational speeches.

But there's no denying whatever he said inside the Boston Celtics locker room at halftime turned around Saturday's game against Atlanta - and potentially their season - as the C's put on one of the more improbable comebacks for them this season in rallying for a 89-81 win over the Hawks..

This is PERFECT and shows just how little "writers" know about sports and good coaching.

Doc just said in his post game interview that he didnt say anything at half time except to keep working hard. He said, he RARELY makes inspirational speeches or institutes big changes in his game plan. This is a team of professionals who know what they need to do to win and him yelling at them isnt going to change that.

Hence why Doc is one of the best coaches in the NBA and why the reports of the demise of this team have been greatly exaggerated

Mr K.

HERE WE GO!

112288

112288,

I think the field goal attempts were Boston = 85 and Atlanta = 68.

I was interested in Rondo's post-game statement that the way in which Avery most helps him is to reduce the number of picks he (Rondo) encounters.

Then Doc said they didn't change one thing at halttime (although the players wanted to change some things). Doc said they "just did it harder and better." That's significant in my mind because it had to reinforce, in the minds of the new guys, that Celtics ball involves no easy fixes or gimmicks. It's all about outworking the opponent.

Sully kept up his significant contributions and won the Tommy Award. Rondo was phenomenal. Bass made key inputs at both ends as did KG. Paul Pierce was amazing on the offensive end. But I'd give the game ball to Avery Bradley. As (I think it was) Donny Marshall said, Rondo sets the offensive pace and Bradley sets the defensive pace. And, in both cases, attack ball is required. In this game, attack defense, led by Avery, was the key to the comeback. You could just see the Celts' offensive confidence rising as an outgrowth of the defensive surge.

Last night, my game balls (so to speak) went to Sully and Lee. It's absolutely outstanding to be able to recognize different guys on consecutive nights and not to include the great games played by KG, Pierce or Rondo.

It seems obvious to me that switching KG back to starting center was essential to this potential turnaround. As it was, the starters were playing four on five in the offensive end, and their fast break was bogged down. By upgrading the starting offense in that manner, the Celts could afford to sacrifice a little offense at SG in order to gain the benefit of Avery's defense.

Wow, Tom Heinsohn just said the Avery's as good at what he does as Bill Russell was at blocking shots. A pretty ballsy comparison. Hey Tom! Can i have a little of your drink?

I'm still seeing improved movement without the ball in the Celtics' offense. And 30 offensive rebounds in the past two games seems to suggest a relaxation of the "shoot and retreat" policy of Doc.

Go Celtics!

Sam

Sam,

Right. The breakdown for 3 pt shots.

Celtics - 3/16
Atlanta - 10/29

112288

Sam, I don't think Sully got the memo to not go for offensive rebounds, but sprint back on defense. This guy is getting better and better. His man defense has been noticeable better lately as well.

112288 wrote:Sam,

Right. The breakdown for 3 pt shots.

Celtics - 3/16
Atlanta - 10/29

112288

Pierce was 3-8 and the rest of team was 0-8

Its just a matter of time and Terry is going to break out of his slump.

Where the hell did those guys come from?

We gave up 31 points on 60% shooting in the 1st quarter. I'd like to say it was all Lou Williams (ok, most of it was) but Teague was killing us too. A much better 22 points 2nd quarter but we still lost that quarter 22-20 and were down by 15 at the half. We shot 36% in the first quarter. We had 7 TOs in the first quarter with 4 of them by Rondo. At first Williams owned Rondo, then it was Teague. We played half-assed. Energy, but no focus. One of the last plays of the half was an inbounds from KG to Rondo. Josh Smith was fronting Rondo and KG threw a lazy inbounds pass that Rondo lost out of bounds. Lazy inbounds pass, no motion from Rondo to try and get away from the much bigger Smith. That was our first half.

Which was about as different from our second half as you could get. We came out after halftime and blitzed them. Our defensive rotations, right from the start of the 3rd were MUCH faster, MUCH crisper. Nothing came easy for the Hawks. They unraveled like a cheap sweater.

At halftime, they shot 53% and we shot 39%. Atlanta already had 7 steals, with 3 of them by the guy guarding Rondo, Jeff Teague. We had 9 TOs, 4 by Rondo, 3 by KG. In other words, we were bad.

Rosalie said, on the Game On thread "Well, let's try to look at it this way, this is Atlanta, they have a history of blowing leads?????? Of course, they are shooting lights out". Right from her mouth to God's ear...

1. Pierce had a very forgettable first half, although he did get 3 offensive rebounds in one series (and missed every putback). When he came out after halftime he attacked and scored like the great closer he is. After starting off 0-5 or something like that, he ended up with 26 points on 8-20. He was unstoppable in the 2nd half.

2. Rondo started attacking in the 2nd half. We saw the bad Rondo in the first half, the good one in the second. He had 4 TOs in the 1st half, only 1 in the second. Unlike the Memphis game, Mr. Triple Double's floaters dropped this time. His defense became much more aggressive as well.

3. When I looked at the boxscore this morning I was surprised to see that Bradley only played 20 minutes. His impact on the game was much bigger than that. His defensive energy is contagious. His pressure is disruptive. He had another poor offensive start but started hitting his jumpers with more confidence in the 2nd half. If you're looking at the boxscore and trying to see Bradley's impact, don't look at his numbers, look at the opponent's. After an atrocious first quarter, in which Lou Williams was 6-6 with Rondo guarding him for most of it, the Hawk's fg% dropped steadily throughout the game until they ended up with an anemic 41%. When you don't start your halfcourt sets until you only have 10-12 seconds left on the shot clock and are forcing up shots with 2 seconds left or less, that's a big edge for the defense. That's The Bradley Effect.

4. I'm very happy for Brandon Bass today. He goes out and works hard every game but so far this season he has been snakebit. His reliable jumper has been unreliable. He's trying to help on defense but he's a tad slow. Just a tough year so far for him. Last night, he looked good. A phenomenal weak side block on a driving Josh Smith and, much more importantly, he hit his shots. 10 points on 5-6. It has been a while since Bass has shot anywhere near 5-6. His release, which had looked jerky and twitchy, looked smooth coming out of his hands last night. Let's hope this is the end of his slump. If he gets back to last year's form, we're in good shape. At the minimum, it will raise his trade value. We still need another BIG.

5. A frustrating 4-18 night for Smith. 10 boards, but wasn't the force we know he can be. Bass and Sully took turns on him. Scal said that he thinks Al Horford is the best center in the east. Not last night. KG owned him, whenever he wasn't jumping out to guard Smith at the perimeter.

6. I love Jared Sullinger. Do I wish he was another couple of inches taller, sure, but I love his game and especially his attitude. This young man's head is really screwed on right. God! I love coach's kids! Sully was the High School Player of the Year. He was an All-American. He would have been a lottery pick but for the rumor about his back, a high lottery pick if he had come out after his freshman year and he comes to the Celtics and is told "don't worry about scoring, or being "Da Man", just rebound and set picks" and that's exactly what he does. No bitching, no whining, he just goes out and does what he's told. 8 points on 4-8 and 9 boards for Sully in 24 minutes. Not too many bullshit rookie calls on him last night, so he was able to stay on the floor. 4 of his boards were offensive. No wonder I'm in love. Either he didn't get Doc's memo about falling back on defense or Doc knows a good thing when he sees it and has taken the leash off of Sully. Either way, it is paying big dividends. He has developed a technique which I'm sure his father would NOT approve of. Instead of putting his prodigious backside into his man on a rebound, he now holds out his hand, almost a stiff-arm, and keeps his man at bay while his other hand corrals the ball. If you're not the biggest boy on the court anymore, and the bigger guys are coming over your back and spoiling your rebounding party, then adjustments have to be made, don't they? The more he plays, the more the refs see him. The more they see him, the fewer the rookie fouls they'll call on him. I predict an awesome post All-Star period for Sully as he gains experience, plays against players and teams more than once and gets to stay on the floor because the refs let him.

7. Lou Williams had a night-and-a-half. Almost literally. He was 8-9 for 21 points at halftime but only had 7 points on 1-3 in the second half. We got up on him more, played excellent deny defense on him (credit to Lee and JET for that). Besides, who shoots 11-12 for a game?

8. JET played 26 minutes, had a 0 +/-, shot 2-8. He showed some hustle, had 3 assists and no turnovers. I'm feeling so good about this game, I'm not going to dump on him today, other than mentioning he shot 2-8. He did do a good job on defense on Williams in the 2nd half. There's enough credit here to spread it around a bit, because that truly was a fantastic team effort in the 2nd half.

9. We had 34 points in the paint vs 30 for them. What makes this more impressive is that they had more fast break points than us. I hate today's fast breaks. With old school fast breaks you went to the front of the rim. Either get a layup, get fouled or drag the defense down with you. Now, you run to the corner and hope to take a 3, which you could probably get in any halfcourt set anytime you want. Finish at the rim!

Atlanta was 20-11 going into last night's game. They were 11-5 at home. They are not an easy team this year and we completely destroyed them offensively and defensively in the 2nd half. I would rather have a sustained effort throughout, but this was awful nice too. Doc has said that he doesn't think a lot of the new guys understand what it means to win consistently at this level. I think the light bulb is starting to go on over the heads of some of them.

If we win in NY tomorrow, we might be able to say we are seeing a corner turned. So far, we're seeing evidence of it but it's still just two games, although against two very good teams.

Last mention was the crowd. There were a lot of empty seats but the ones that were filled were at least half filled by Celtic fans, and they weren't shy about expressing it. Gotta feel sorry for the Hawks, when your home game feels like an away crowd.

bob


.

Love Averys effect of the team on defense and the shots hes getting, hes getting really good looks, once those start falling we'll be even better. Sully was also great in a Paul Silas way, but my game ball has got to go to the Captain, the Truth taking over the game in that 3rd with some vintage Pierce. Reminded me of 08 Finals when he kicked Kobes ass all over the floor, still has that knack for creating driving lanes at his own pace and finishing in traffic, great to see. And on the second night of a back to back, vintage Pierce, enjoy it, were gonna really miss his unique HoF game when hes gone.

KG was great in a Bill Russell way loved him still running floor at 36, imagine if Jermaine O'Neal or any of these fading big men even younger than him had his balls and passion. KG still the backbone to our defense, we just beat 2 teams with very good winning records and as good as we played we can play alot better as we got nothing from Green and Terry and AB is still shaking off the rust and already adding so much.

Oh and some guy named Rondo had a routine triple double.

Maybe we don't need Fab Melo so bad after all.

dboss wrote:Since the game was broadcast by the Atlanta hawks station Sports south, I had to endure the gibberish insult laden comments from Wilkens (Nique the color guy) and so other fool.

In the first half they kept calling them the Bostonians and said the Hawks no longer feared the Celtics.

Last night the Celtics destroyed the Atlanta Hawks. This proves once again that if you stick with the defense, good things will happen.

I have 2 games balls...one for Avery Bradley and the other for Jared Sullinger. His work in the paint is now providing that physical presence that has been missing. Sully is a very good 20 year old rookie who has a lot of upside to gain that will be measured by how many pounds he losses. He reminds me of Leon Poe (Pow) the way he fights for rebounds and position except he is a lot stronger than Poe.

Now that Avery has returned Lee and Terry can matriculate into their respective roles off the bench.

I wish we could do something to get Jeff Green going. I still think that his calling card may be in an uptempo strategy where he can run the court.

Paul Pierce took full advantage of Kyle Koever (Did I spell his name right?) My wife said Kyle looks like some Hollywood actor named Ashley. I have no idea what she is talking about.

I thought the play of the game was when Rajon went to the floor and was able to steal the ball from between the legs of a Hawks player. Reminded me of the great steal he made against Orlando in the playoffs a few years ago.

The Knicks are up next. Should be a good measuring stick.

dboss

I too had the displeasure of having to listen to the Hawks announcers. One of the worst crews in basketball. The moron Bob Rathbun, when Atl was up by around 12 in the first half, said to Dominique Wilkins, "How 'bout we run 'em out of the building, 'Nique?" And Dominique said, "Sounds good."

Hope they enjoyed watching the second half.

Dboss, I wrote on the Game-on Thread that you should have paid the money. I added "Easy for me to say."

BobH, I'm glad you mentioned Terry's defense on Williams. I didn't notice Lee's defense all that much, but Terry was actually very good. I have to admit since I've been roasting his defense lately.

I've also been roasting Bass for being a major part of bogging the team down. However, I love his unflappable attitude, and I couldn't be happier than when he took a consistency pill prior to the game.

Rondo's floaters keep sending me to the cardiologist. Each time he penetrates to the right of the hoop and lofts a floater of at least 6-8 feet, my life expectancy decreases by a month because the angle of those shots requires incredible accuracy. More often than not, the friggin' thing goes through, and I lose another month.

I sometimes wonder if it's not a good thing that Sully's not taller. I believe his work ethic might not be to extreme if his height made life around the basket easier for him.

Points in the paint: 2 in the first half, 10 in the second half
Points in the paint: 12 in the first half, 22 in the second half

Everyone knows that I've always been fascinated with the "feel" of the game: chemistry, pace, momentum, player interaction, etc. Well the term "synergy" is also on that list. The first definition of "synergy" in the dictionary I consulted is: "the interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effort is greater than the sum of their individual effects." (Wait a second; I have to take off my cap and gown.)

In last night's second half, I found it impossible to decide whether the defense (led by Bradley) was the catalyst for break-out offense OR the offense (led by Pierce) was the catalyst for break-out defense. The fact is that they both influenced one another at a very high level of synergy—almost like a perfect storm at both ends of the floor. If there were such a thing as a Celtics bible, "Synergy" would be the chapter immediately following "Genesis."

The second half was very rewarding and helps the Celtics in the standings. But I believe its strongest significance was to provide a blueprint for the newer Celtics as to how the true signature of Celtics basketball involves out-performing other teams in the sheer will to win. As Doc said after the game, "At halftime, some of the players wanted to change some things. We didn't change one thing. We just did it harder and better. That was a real learning experience (for the newer Celtics)." Amen, Doc.

God, with each passing year, it becomes progressively harder to climb down off the pulpit.

Go Celtics!

Sam

I too had the displeasure of having to listen to the Hawks announcers. One of the worst crews in basketball. The moron Bob Rathbun, when Atl was up by around 12 in the first half, said to Dominique Wilkins, "How 'bout we run 'em out of the building, 'Nique?" And Dominique said, "Sounds good."

Hope they enjoyed watching the second half.[/quote]

Steve, since I don't live in Boston, I usually get the other teams announcers on League Pass. About 90% of them are huge homers for their team. We catch a lot of slack because of Tommy. Well listen to some of the other teams and you will find out he is no worse than they are.

I loved the announcer for the Hawks saying a foul should be called on Bradley. Bradley had forced a TO and I think it was Teague laying on the floor. Bradley was merely standing there, not doing anything except standing over him with his legs spread (that took guts). Just kind of keeping him in one place. The announcer yelling Bradley can't stand there like that, they should call a foul on Bradley. You have to go back and watch it to see how funny it really is.

Hi,
Re: local announcers. I think that Top Moronic Announcer award should go to Cle crew (yes, I'm biased).
On serious note, I don't mind homerism - it's a given. But when it is a spade call it spade. Also, knowledge of the game of basketball also helps.

AK