DE-FENSE! DE-FENSE!

But first, three paragraphs largely about offense. I am not a complete crack-pot.

For the first 18 minutes of the game, the Hawks had a ridiculous eFG% of 20.5%. For the next 18 minutes of the game, the Hawks had a ridiculous eFG% of 84.2%. For the entirety of the meaningful 36 minutes of the game, the Hawks had a reasonable eFG% of 54.2%. 

There are reasons beyond cold probability that the Hawks shot significantly better for one stretch of the game than another. The Celtics came out playing very good defense from the jump. Amir Johnson and Jonas Jerebko took Marcus Smart's lead, getting physical leverage against Paul Millsap and Al Horford in the post. Smart and Isaiah Thomas defended Kyle Korver as well as they have so far in the series. That the Hawks were not getting the typical looks that allowed them to shoot 51.6% over 82 games contributed to them shooting 20.5% for a quarter-and-a-half last night.

Similarly, it is not entirely coincidental that the Hawks started making shots with unsustainable frequency at roughly the same moment they started turning stops into transition opportunities. A below average offense looked significantly better when it didn't have to face a set defense as often. Analysis! Observation.

The most frustrating thing about watching the Hawks spend much of the last four playoff series missing a higher percentage of shots than they have over the last two regular seasons is, natch, watching the Hawks miss shots. The second most frustrating thing is the tendency to formulate a supernatural explanation for the misses.

It's not impossible that the Hawks have struggled to convert the chances they're pleased to have created in the playoffs due to a collective character or psychological defect, but I contend the defensive performance they put on, possession-by-possession while shooting 20.5%, at home, in front of an increasingly anxious and frustrated audience demonstrates tremendous discipline and commitment. Which conforms with my prejudice to dismiss the character/psychological explanation for missed shots. Funny how that works.

Variance is not confined to shot-making. Though they've been excellent overall, the Hawks have not been perfect defensively for all five games in this series. They looked shockingly unprepared in the first quarter of Game 3. The transition defense* fell apart in the second half of the third quarter of Game 4. Still, the Hawks are holding the Celtics to 95 points per 100 possessions in this series, by bettering their second-best defense in the regular season numbers in three of the four factors.

*The chief culprit in Game 4, Mike Scott, was excellent for the second time this series, in Game 5.

The Hawks entered the playoffs with a 2-3% chance of winning the title, a 7-8% chance of winning the East, because they allowed 5 fewer points per 100 possessions than the league this season. The Hawks entered the playoffs with a 2-3% chance of winning the title, a 7-8% chance of winning the East, because they scored 1.3 points fewer than the league per 100 possessions this season. Offensive struggles, especially comical offensive struggles, tend toward the obvious. That's but half the story.

Chains, Weakest Links, Etc.

Paul Millsap was spectacular, the Hawks were playing their brand of top-drawer defense (excellent first shot defense, some occasional slippage when the opposition grabbed offensive rebounds), and they were in good shape to survive the dreaded joint indecisive performances from Jeff Teague and Dennis Schroder*.

*Upon whom it is now clearly established to be open season.

The Hawks were up 13 points with 6:33 left in the third quarter. Mike Scott entered the game and was a complete disaster defensively for the next 6:33. Marcus Smart's semi-transition layup at 5:33 was due to Scott panicking and forcing Kent Bazemore not to pick up Smart in transition. Scott could not stay in front of Smart on the downhill, natch. Jonas Jerebko's two threes - at 1:23 to cut Atlanta's lead to 8 and at 0:20 to cut Atlanta's lead to 3 - were both directly attributable to Scott losing all contact with Jerebko at the first opportunity. 

Scott wouldn't play again, but it was game-on at that point, enough for the short-term variance of the Celtics making slop (Marcus Smart's two threes, Isaiah Thomas banking in a 15-footer he threw up at roughly 19-foot weight from the top of the key) while the Hawks missed high-percentage shots (Horford missed a jump hook on the block, a wide-open corner 3, plus wide-open, spot-up 15- and 19-footers, Korver missed both his threes) in the fourth quarter. Said variance then made meaningful Teague dribbling out the final 15 seconds of a tie game in regulation, and the Celtics thoroughly outplaying the Hawks in overtime.

For the glass-half full types, perhaps the Hawks combined the Teague/Schroder dual dud and the lack of quality depth potential losses into a single L. For those inclined toward pessimism, the Hawks just dropped a pair of winnable games against a shameless bunch to reduce their chances of winning the series to home-court advantage over a three-game sample size.

Atlanta's Missing 72 Hours

Game 2 was so broadly, quickly, and thoroughly discussed by professional basketball writers on Wednesday that I didn't bother tossing off a regurgitation of themes in this space. The consensus was that Brad Stevens had a couple of remaining options to mitigate the matchup problems caused by the opposition and his own team's poor health: replace Jared Sullinger to improve spacing and play Isaiah Thomas off the ball to get him opportunities to attack a defense in flux. So why did the Hawks look unprepared for these Boston adjustments defensively? What were they preparing to face for the last 72 hours?

In Game 3, the Celtics started Jonas Jerebko for Sullinger and forced Jeff Teague to chase Isaiah Thomas around the court while Evan Turner initiated offense. The Hawks appeared completely unprepared for the former, sagging toward the lane in their established manner then frantically trying to close down the extra four feet to Jerebko beyond the three-point line. 

When you attack the ball, when you help and recover in sync as much as the Hawks do on defense, four feet is a meaningful distance. If you don't close those four feet? You're either giving up an open shot on the first pass or the next defensive rotation has more ground/less time to close out on the recipient of the next pass. In the first quarter, the Celtics moved the ball and the Hawks couldn't move farther and faster. The Celtics made five three-pointers (Jerebko, Turner, and Jae Crowder* each made their only three-pointer of the game in the first 9:12 of the game), 7 of 11 two-pointers, had a free throw rate of 38.1** and grabbed 25% of the (few) possible offensive rebounds.

*Crowder's three to put the Celtics up 29-14 was perhaps the greatest indictment of the Hawks' lack of defensive execution. Paul Millsap helped down to about 8 feet on a Jared Sullinger iso/post-up in the lane that Mike Muscala (about whom, more below) had under control. Millsap's attention encouraged Sullinger to think about the pass and it was an easy one to make. In short, Millsap gave up an open, spot-up three to a 32% career three-point shooter to double a career 39% shooter from 3-10 feet who struggles to score against length (we remember you, Jeff Withey).

**Season average free throw rate for Hawks opponents: 19.4. Boston's free throw rate in Games 1 and 2 combined: 14.2.

I think the Hawks can adjust to the personnel change. In the last three quarters of Game 3, the Celtics only made six threes, their free throw rate was down to 26.2 (though that would have been higher had the Celtics not missed 7 free throws), and they only grabbed 15% of 33 offensive rebound opportunities. On the other hand, the Celtics continued making two-point shots at a high rate (51.2%) over the final three quarters. There was more space in the lane (and more transition opportunities) than in the first two games. That's where Isaiah Thomas playing off the ball causes real concerns.

Jeff Teague has worked hard over the past three seasons to make himself a passable pick-and-roll defender (at least when he gets to work with Millsap or Al Horford). Chasing a faster player off the ball doesn't allow him to draw on any of those skills he's developed and reduces him to his lowly, natural defensive state. It's not a matter of effort. Teague is trying, but he's being asked to do something new and difficult at the part of basketball he's least good at, at the age of nearly 28.

So how do the Hawks counter? I suspect it will be by rotating their better off-the ball defenders: Kent Bazemore, Thabo Sefolosha, even Dennis Schroder (when the Hawks play him with Teague*). The hope would be that extra defensive length could trouble Thomas with late close-outs** and that Evan Turner could easily be tempted into taking a lot of mid-range, dribble-heavy isos when guarded by Teague. The Hawks should be willing for Evan Turner to attempt all the two-point shots he wants.

*The Teague/Schroder combo was +1 in 6:22 in Game 3. Nothing in that sentence is meaningful other than eliminating "That was awful. Never try that again." from Mike Budenholzer's rotation decision-making tree.

**They would have to be controlled closeouts, running guys off the three-point line, as the Hawks did so consistently well this season. Atypically, the Hawks repeatedly, wildly contested not-that-dangerous two-point jump shots in Game 3. Their defensive excellence is predicated on playing aggressively and not fouling. Take either element away and they quickly trend toward mere above-averageness defensively. Their offense can't make up for that consistently.

On the other end of the floor, the Hawks continued to create good looks and continued to struggle to convert them. Non-Korver Hawks made 4-27 three-point attempts (they would be expected to make ~9 of those over a long enough sample, or, Marcus Smart made as many three-pointers in 4 attempts as Bazemore, Teague, Millsap, Horford, and Schroder did in 20 attempts) and did the following from 5:45 to 3:06 of the game (from 98-101 to 100-104):

• 5:45 - Millsap missed dunk (contested by Isaiah Thomas!)
• 5:31 - Teague layup blocked by Evan Turner
• 4:56 - Teague missed runner/layup
• 4:22 - Horford misses six-footer on the block
• 3:49 - Bazemore made layup
• 3:06 - Horford transition layup blocked by Marcus Smart

Process? I'm certain the Hawks think so. Sunday would be a nice time to show their work.

Notes on the benches:

• Dennis Schroder has played very good basketball over the last two games. Mostly defensively in Game 2 and mostly offensively in Game 3. I don't know that the Celtics are on the right side of their risk/reward calculation re: hitting and baiting Schroder. Sure, you might wind him up enough to retaliate or make a few bad decisions with the ball in his hands in the short-term, but if he gets going you've got no one who can stay in front of him and all of a sudden Teague is the second-best point guard the Hawks have that night. Schroder may frustrate the Hawks, but they love him cooking more than you hate him chirping and a good Schroder game elevates whatever marginal teamwork value exists from an adrenalized boost of fraternal feelings about a common opponent.
• Marcus Smart's block on Horford in transition makes his flopping, sloppy execution (MARCUS SMART CANNOT CONCENTRATE LONG ENOUGH TO GUARD KYLE KORVER), and poor shot selection even more frustrating. It would be a shame if Smart never becomes more than a high-energy Josh Smith with a worse offensive game.
• Mike Scott continues to play fine-to-good basketball in this series, though committing a lane violation when Korver is at the line to complete a Crawford to tie the game is a maddening demerit.
• Mike Muscala continues to show why his consistency led to him falling out of the rotation again this season. He offers consistently strong defense and ineffective offense. His spacing and movement on offense is theoretically sound but consistently less productive than you want. He's not a Pero Antic-level defensive savant, so he needs to figure out how to get the ball in the basket without turning it over. (Career 57% TS% and 33% from three though, so maybe the inconsistent minutes are fooling my puny human brain.)
• It's a toss up on who provided emptier minutes between Tim Hardaway, Jr. and Kirk Hinrich. Which is less of a surprise than Budenholzer playing them a combined six minutes in a competitive game when the Hawks last played on Tuesday. If close, road playoff games don't warrant playing your handful of best players 36+ minutes, then what are we all doing here?

Brad Stevens Has Matchup Problems

There are only so many out of bounds plays Brad Stevens will have the opportunity to call. The Celtics have to figure out a way to get stops because they have to get transition opportunities to score with any sort of efficiency. If anyone other than Isaiah Thomas is dribbling, they look like a college offense and even Thomas was, at times, reduced to throwing himself into the nearest defender and hoping for a referee to bail him out. 

The Celtics were probably fortunate to give up only 102 points. You can maybe wave away the totality of sending the Hawks to the free throw line 35 times through references to late-game intentional fouling and referees with very inconsistent views on allowable contact, but the Celtics don't typically play defense without fouling. They have to be aggressive to force turnovers at their preferred rate. And I don't think you can sell any of the favored narratives used to pretend defenses have a significant influence on single-game three-point percentage. The Hawks 27 three-point attempts were generally taken by the players the Hawks want taking three-pointers, they weren't unduly contested, and they didn't overwhelmingly occur late in the shot clock. 

I don't know what Stevens can do differently, given his personnel, to force the Hawks into lower-percentage field goal attempts. Even hoping the Hawks continue to miss shots is extra cold comfort when you've just let the Atlanta Hawks (the Atlanta Hawks!) grab 27% of their misses. That's an indictment of either your execution or your talent. Amir Johnson is, and always has been, a good player but Millsap and Horford are better than he is at everything he's good at. Stevens showed little interest in playing Kelly Olynyk significant minutes. Jonas Jerebko can only hope to out-Mike Scott Mike Scott*. Jared Sullinger? You can't expect a fat guy with a terrible haircut to accomplish anything substantial against Al Horford.

*Mike Scott played as well as you could hope, more than making up for Dennis Schroder's disappointingly passive play to give the Hawks a crucial seventh contributor. Scott also passed Schroder as the Hawk most likely to take a swing at Marcus Smart. Speaking of, I thought Smart, despite being +6 for the game, offers the greatest hope for improvement for the Celtics in Game 2 and beyond simply by not taking six three-pointers again and showing better assignment discipline when asked to guard Korver.

It's widely recognized going small helps the Celtics less against the Hawks than it does against most teams because the Hawks, since Tiago Splitter was lost for the season, already play 5 out all the time. Going small has less positive impact when Jae Crowder appears incapable of keeping Jeff Teague in front of him. Stevens can't even hide Isaiah Thomas on Kent Bazemore if Bazemore moves without the ball because Thomas will get caught ball-watching. 

All the Celtics guards and wings (with the exception of the now, sadly absent, Avery Bradley) are drawn to the ball, leaving them susceptible to quick, constant, and sound ball and player movement. Which is understandable, given that I started this by talking about how they have to create transition opportunities to score consistently. Such is the stress of being a good team confronting a challenge directed squarely at what you believe makes you good. 

To their credit, there's almost no chance that any doubt the Hawks create for the Celtics will adversely effect Boston's level of effort. Which forces the Hawks to apply relentless pressure to make the Celtics crack the only place they will, the only place that matters: the scoreboard.

Initial Feedback: Another Season Done Gone

Initial feedback: A completely subjective and immediate response to the events of tonight's game, featuring a comment and rating, the latter on a scale of 1 to 10, on every player who saw the floor and the head coach, along with ephemera and miscellany as the author deems necessary.

Your ratings and commentary, dear reader, are welcomed in the comments to this post.

Boxscore

Players
Jeff Teague: Really struggled to get the ball in the basket but he attacked off the dribble, didn't turn the ball over, and earned six assists without ever turning the ball over. Despite his sub-par production, one never got the sense that Teague had the ball in his hands too much. Again did a decent of job of making Rondo shoot jumpers and encouraging him to explore turnover opportunities. 5/10

Joe Johnson: 17 points on 17 shots with his only really effective quarter being the third where he made three catch-and-shoot jumpers and got a flat-footed put-back off of a Marvin Williams tip-out. That put-back was Joe Johnson's only rebound after the 8:08 mark of the second quarter of Game 5. He earned two assists and committed two turnovers. He didn't earn a single trip to the free throw line. He was a non-factor defensively. His blocked layup attempt with 3.2 seconds left defines him as a player in the context of this team, this franchise, this contract: he's not bad, he just isn't good enough to do what is asked of him. 4/10

Marvin Williams: Made shots, grabbed rebounds, didn't turn the ball over, and did a decent job on Paul Pierce. All that could reasonably be asked. More than he's ever done two playoff games in a row. 6/10

Josh Smith: Some excellent defensive possessions (including on Garnett's go-ahead turnaround that made it 80-79 Celtics). Some terrible defensive possessions. Some excellent offensive possessions (the ones where he attacked the basket or passed ahead). Some terrible offensive possessions (he took 11 jump shots, making 3). More good than bad but not as good as he, even playing hurt, could be. A rather large caveat in an elimination game. 6/10

Al Horford: Honestly, Horford was pretty terrible for three quarters, slow of foot and reaction. He came alive in the fourth quarter, scoring 11 of Atlanta's 17 points. Had he scored 12 points in the fourth (or not turned the ball over seven times), the Hawks might have gotten to play one more game. Without him, they wouldn't have been playing tonight. 6/10

Kirk Hinrich: Didn't again suffer the indignity of sitting while Willie Green played in the fourth quarter but didn't surpass his own limitations. Got stuck with bailing the Hawks out of isolations gone nowhere a couple of times and, not surprisingly, couldn't make much happen on his own. 3/10

Tracy McGrady: He made it through a whole season on a winning team without figuring out how to integrate his remaining skills into a team context. 3/10

Erick Dampier: Played 12 minutes for some reason. Grabbed a couple of offensive rebounds. Good for him. Elbowed Ryan Hollins. Excellent for him. 1/10

Jannero Pargo: Put in as a defensive replacement with 5 seconds left in the first half to guard Rondo. Seriously. He fell down in the backcourt. Incomplete

The head coach
Larry Drew made no egregious mistakes tonight but some chickens came home to roost in the form of Joe Johnson's inefficiency and narrow production, Josh Smith's jump shots, and minutes thrown away on an aged, immobile center (not the one you'd think, but still). Injuries were never his fault but the failure of the team and its players to take a harsh look at their own abilities, address their weaknesses, and play to their strengths falls at his feet. Not even a somewhat healthy Al Horford could save them in the end. 4/10

A thought regarding the opposition
Kevin Garnett was excellent. The question of who's better: a one-legged Paul Pierce or Joe Johnson? was definitively answered. Rajon Rondo was mercurial, with probably more good than bad. Still, the Hawks lost to a team that played Ryan Hollins and Keyon Dooling for much of the fourth quarter. Unlike the past four seasons, the Hawks did not bow out to an obviously superior opponent they had no chance to defeat in a best-of-seven series. Progress has stalled.

Initial Feedback: His Name Is Al Horford

Initial feedback: A completely subjective and immediate response to the events of tonight's game, featuring a comment and rating, the latter on a scale of 1 to 10, on every player who saw the floor and the head coach, along with ephemera and miscellany as the author deems necessary.

Your ratings and commentary, dear reader, are welcomed in the comments to this post.

Boxscore

Players
Jeff Teague: The Hawks needed every bit of offensive efficiency they could muster and every miss they could encourage from the Celtics. Teague scored 16 points on 11 shots, earned five assists against 3 turnovers and again had a role in many of Rajon Rondo's 11 misses and 5 turnovers. 7/10

Joe Johnson: He got his touches, generally to the team's detriment. There was almost a one-to-one correlation between Joe Johnson dribbling and the Hawks having an empty possession in the second half. He's not a bad player, just overmatched as a shot creator against a good defense.

Four points on six shots (and no free throw attempts), two assists against a turnover, and zero rebounds while playing the entire second half. The other four starters scored 43 points on 25 shots, got to the line 10 times and earned 10 assists in the second half. If Al Horford doesn't bail him out with a runner to put the Hawks up 87-83, this recap could have a very different tenor.

Another mediocre defensive performance, but it included a good, meaningful challenge on Paul Pierce's airball. 4/10

Marvin Williams: He caught a break by getting to defend a gimpy Paul Pierce and generally gets a pass for Garnett posting him up because Marvin Williams shouldn't be asked to guard Kevin Garnett in a playoff game. Caveats out of the way, 15 points on 9 shots is huge in this series and most unexpected given Williams' playoff history. 7/10

Josh Smith: Deserves credit for toughing it out on one leg to grab 16 rebounds and earn six assists, but has to take responsibility for the bad decisions he made: six jumpers and six turnovers, none worse than that on the final inbounds pass. I don't expect this injury to get any better for him, so he needs to adjust to his temporary physical diminishment. 6/10

Al Horford: 19 and 11 in his first full game back. Three assists and three steals and three blocks. 17 second half points on 10 shots. Lockdown perimeter defense on Rondo to finish the game before the final turnover could end the Hawks' season. Once again asserted himself as the team's best player with actions during the game rather than words before. 9/10

Kirk Hinrich: Had a really nice first half stint, knocking down three shots in just under seven minutes and playing respectable defense. For some reason, Willie Green got the reserve guard minutes in the second half. 4/10

Tracy McGrady: It's been about 40 minutes since he last scored in this series. 1/10

Willie Green: Six-and-a-half odd, impact-free minutes. Unless you count the 11 points the Hawks were outscored by with Green on the court. 1/10

Erick Dampier: Entered the game with 3:42 left in the first quarter. Made a shot. Played a little more. 2/10

Jason Collins: His 10 second appearance as a defensive sub for Al Horford was an absurd bit of tactics. Incomplete

Ivan Johnson: His 10 second appearance as a defensive sub for Tracy McGrady only poured salt on the wound of the 15 ineffective minutes McGrady and Dampier played in his stead. Incomplete

The head coach
Pros: Got over his mooted minutes limit for Al Horford early and necessarily. Played his four best players at least 40 minutes each. Didn't play Jannero Pargo at all. Motion offense looked sublime for much of the second half. Excellent play call coming out of a timeout led to Horford dunk, ending 7-0 Boston run and putting the Hawks up 85-83 with 2:220 left.

Cons: Played Erick Dampier in the first quarter. Preferred Willie Green to Kirk Hinrich in the second half. Let Joe Johnson dribble away many a second half possession despite the exact opposite working a treat repeatedly. Team couldn't inbound the ball successfully in two tries on the final possession. 7/10

A thought regarding the opposition
If the Celtics were a good offensive team, this game could have been over before halftime. If the Celtics were a good offensive team, they wouldn't be the fifth seed in the East. With the teams so evenly matched (even the injuries seem to happen at times to keep the teams tight), I'm not sure if home court means anything. Or maybe it means more than normal. Either way, first team to 80 will win again on Thursday and whichever team has two stretches where they make shots as opposed to the other team's single stretch will win the game.

Initial Feedback: Whoo Boy

Initial feedback: A completely subjective and immediate response to the events of tonight's game, featuring a comment and rating, the latter on a scale of 1 to 10, on every player who saw the floor and the head coach, along with ephemera and miscellany as the author deems necessary.

Your ratings and commentary, dear reader, are welcomed in the comments to this post.

Boxscore

Players

Jeff Teague: When the ball is taken out of his hands when he's playing exceptionally well, as in Game 3, I have some sympathy for Teague's efforts to force matters when things are going terribly poor and the guy who dominates the ball when Teague is keeping the team in the game, as in Game 3, shies away when the going gets tough. There's no suitable explanation for Teague's role, nor that of any of his teammates, in the defensive performance. Consider that assumed in every comment below. 3/10

Joe Johnson: Put in his place by Paul Pierce. A complete non-factor everywhere except the balance sheet. 2/10

Kirk Hinrich: The team-wide meltdown rendered the discussion of minute distribution between role players and bench players moot. That the game got out of hand while Hinrich was on the bench is the best thing one can say about his night. 2/10

Josh Smith: Deserves credit for playing hurt but was clearly limited in every facet of his game. That he was still the team's best player says more about the healthy Hawks and their head coach than Smith. 5/10

Jason Collins: It says more about Boston's limitations that it took four games for Jason Collins to be an obvious liability. 1/10

Marvin Williams: Marvin Williams ineffective in playoff game is the "dog bites man" of Atlanta Hawks analysis. 2/10

Jannero Pargo: He was on the court when the game got out of hand. Surprising no one other than Larry Drew. It's tough to score 8 points in 8 minutes and have your team go from 8 points down to 19 points down. Pargo managed the feat. 2/10

Al Horford: Despite the outcome, it is nice to have him back. After a very rusty first stint, he didn't look half bad if one considers the game context and his long lay off to negate each other. It says multitudes about both Horford and the organization that, in the playoffs, having missed four months the immediate question following the game is whether he's the best or second-best player. 5/10

Tracy McGrady: Continued in the ineffective vein of the bulk of his Game 3 performance. Were he to acknowledge his current limitations, he might be an effective role player when physically able. He does not and he mostly is not. 1/10

Willie Green: Even in a series between two mediocre playoff teams at less than full strength, Green looks out of his depth. 2/10

Erick Dampier: Garbage time All-Star. 2/10

Vladimir Radmanovic: Garbage time Non-Star. 1/10

Ivan Johnson: This is how the Atlanta Hawks reward a good regular season. If you want minutes in the playoffs, come back when you're in your thirties, take more jump shots, and don't fight through screens. 2/10

The head coach
Larry Drew pversaw a complete and utter disaster which only makes the previous games' missed opportunities more bitter. After writing about this team for five seasons, it's somehow appropriate that the game Drew decides to stagger rest for Johnson, Teague and Smith is the one the Hawks trail by 13 after one quarter, 23 after two quarters and 27 after three quarters. It's not a risk to take in close games, but rather a desperation move to ride your best players whilst one is playing hurt, one is criticized after playing the best game any Hawk has played in the series, and one is retreating into his shell. This game, unwinnable part-way through the second quarter, is the game Larry Drew rested his best players for during Games 2 and 3. 1/10

A thought regarding the opposition
Not enough good can be said about Paul Pierce's dominating offensive performance, Rajon Rondo far surpassing his triple-double performance in Game 3, Kevin Garnett's activity on both ends of the floor within the team concept, and the entire roster's defensive performance. Where the Hawks looked like the legacy of Mike Woodson's man-management with Larry Drew's tactics, the Celtics looked like the legacy of Tom Thibodeau's defensive tactics with Doc Rivers' man-management. Such an investment in coaching is not possible in Atlanta.

Pierce, Garnett, and Ray Allen were all better than Josh Smith, Joe Johnson, and Al Horford will ever be. Perhaps I underrate the ability to draw on past greatness when the occasion arises, but there appears to be a cultural difference between these two evenly-matched teams. The Hawks experience the events of the game, where actions good and ill seem at the periphery of their control. The Celtics recognize they can't control events to the degree they once could and focus on how they can overcome their newfound limitations to win games.

For the Hawks the outcome of the game is in doubt and that's just the way it is. For the Celtics, the outcome of the game is in doubt and they hate that fact.

Initial Feedback: Game 3

Initial feedback: A completely subjective and immediate response to the events of tonight's game, featuring a comment and rating, the latter on a scale of 1 to 10, on every player who saw the floor and the head coach, along with ephemera and miscellany as the author deems necessary.

Your ratings and commentary, dear reader, are welcomed in the comments to this post.

Boxscore

Players
Jeff Teague: Carried the Hawks in the third and fourth quarters. His teammates took the ball out of his hands repeatedly down the stretch anyway. Good defense on Rondo for the most part. Struggled to chase Ray Allen around screens which only exacerbated the problem of Jannero Pargo being in the game.8/10

Kirk Hinrich: Defended Rondo well himself. Didn't make a shot and that (barring an unreported injury) got Jannero Pargo, Willie Green, and the husk of Tracy McGrady preferred to him for the final 17:06. 3/10

Joe Johnson: If you take enough difficult shots and a teammate plays as well as Jeff Teague did, then eventually a couple of those difficult shots will be big makes. 29 points on 28 shots (with 2 assists and 2 turnovers) isn't that bad in the context of this inefficient offensive series. But it's not enough to mitigate the absence of the Hawks' two best players. 6/10

Marvin Williams: I don't know if his 11 defensive rebounds did anything other than drive home the point that Boston really doesn't care about grabbing offensive rebounds. Another thoroughly out of sorts postseason performance. 3/10

Jason Collins: The two early buckets were a pleasant surprise. The four turnovers were not. Garnett has stopped foolishly trying to post Collins up. He and Bass both made easy spot-up jumpers when Collins couldn't close out. 2/10

Tracy McGrady: Larry Drew couldn't count on Tracy McGrady to play regular minutes this season because McGrady couldn't count on his body. A strong first half ended with a contact-free turned ankle. In the second half and overtime, McGrady played 24 minutes, was 0-5 from the floor with 3 rebounds, 1 assist, and 3 turnovers. 4/10

Erick Dampier: Tripled his season total of made field goals. Grabbed six rebounds. Didn't expire on court. The Hawks couldn't ask for anything more. 3/10

Ivan Johnson: Much like Kirk Hinrich, an inability to make an impact offensively saw much of the roster pass him in the fourth quarter. 2/10

Jannero Pargo: The only Hawk on the court for the scoreless 4:20 stretch of the first half and the fourth quarter meltdown. Took (and missed) bad shots, couldn't defend Rondo, and his presence forced Teague into a bad matchup against Ray Allen. 1/10

Willie Green: I don't know if 5 points in 15 minutes is sufficient return given the dearth of non-scoring contributions Green offers, but he was a far sight more effective than Pargo. 3/10

Vladimir Radmanovic: Put in the game to spread the Boston defense. Boston never seemed to notice and Radmanovic barely touched the ball. 1/10

The head coach
The Hawks are now up to almost 15 minutes of playoff basketball with none of Teague, Joe Johnson, or Josh Smith on the court. The Hawks were scoreless during tonight's 4:20 stretch of Teague and Johnson both on the bench in the first quarter, keeping the total number of Atlanta points scored in those self-restricting conditions at 7. In ridiculously low scoring games, possessions can't behalf-wasted before they begin.

Same goes for the refusal to put the ball in Teague's hands on every possession down the stretch. There would have been scoreless possessions then, too, but it would have tested Boston's defense more than isolations for Joe Johnson or Tracy McGrady did.
2/10

A thought regarding the opposition
The Celtics won because their coach went all out to win and because their highly-paid, poor shooting players do other things (get to the line in Paul Pierce's case, Rondo's 14 rebounds, 12 assists, and 4 steals) Joe Johnson simply cannot. Johnson's limitations, relative to his contract, are unfairly highlighted in the absence of Atlanta's top three post players (as well as Marvin Williams' rather empty presence) but they're also material to the result.

One Game In and Already Unpredictable

By Buddy Grizzard

Hoopinion's contributors went 3-on-3 to make predictions and preview the series between the Hawks and Celtics. But thus far, much of what we have seen has defied prediction. Here's a look at some story lines from Game 1 that we didn't see coming.

1. Rajon Rondo, not the Hawks, loses composure

Mind games from the Celtics are completely predictable and, according to Ivan Johnson, already underway. Johnson called Kevin Garnett a "dirty player" and accused him of throwing elbows. However, Rajon Rondo being the one to lose his composure and hurt his team was hard to see coming. Yes, he has a history as a hot-head and served a two-game suspension this season for throwing a ball at a ref. It's just hard to imagine a point guard with championship experience and championship aspirations having a meltdown such as we saw at the end of Game 1 with the Celtics' entire season on the line.

2. Jason Collins, beasting

In my article about lessons learned from Larry Drew's first postseason as a head coach, I listed Jason Collins among a group of "scrubs and washed-up veterans." Naturally he went out and had his best game of the season. If you haven't watched the Jason Collins mixtape, you haven't lived.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution Hawks beat writer Michael Cunningham, in the link in the above section, did a great job breaking down Collins' work on defense by possession. MC's data shows that Collins did his best work early and struggled late.

Drew played Collins a season-high 32 minutes, and he was visibly winded when he checked out with 4:26 to play in the 3rd quarter. Collins checked back in with 9:56 to play in the 4th and Garnett went to work, scoring 10 points as the Hawks' double digit lead dwindled to 4. Had the refs called a jump ball rather than the foul on Brandon Bass that set Rondo off, the Hawks might have let this one slip away and wasted Collins' strong early effort.

3. Larry Drew admits fault

Covering the Hawks, for those who interview Drew regularly, must be like the marriage of an old couple who complete each other's sentences. Every flaw on the part of the Hawks can and will be attributed by Drew to a lack of "energy." Perhaps the most surprising development thus far was Drew telling MC that he made a mistake taking Ivan out in the 4th for jawing with a referee:

"I probably overreacted. I grabbed Ivan after the game walking through the tunnel and told him to give me a hug. I’m not afraid to admit when I’m wrong about something."

Definitely did not see that one coming. I've never heard Drew accept blame for anything since he became head coach. By claiming that Ivan's conversation with the ref was not as serious as it first seemed, we also see the first effort by the Hawks organization to counter prevailing negative impressions regarding Hawks players. It's great to see this unexpected tactic from Drew because the Hawks are going to need Ivan no matter how well Collins plays the rest of the way. I just wish we could have seen a similar effort during a concerted Josh Smith All-Star campaign.

Initial Feedback: One Down, Fifteen To Go

Initial feedback: A completely subjective and immediate response to the events of tonight's game, featuring a comment and rating, the latter on a scale of 1 to 10, on every player who saw the floor and the head coach, along with ephemera and miscellany as the author deems necessary.

Your ratings and commentary, dear reader, are welcomed in the comments to this post.

Boxscore

Players
Jeff Teague: He couldn't have played better offensively on a night when the Hawks desperately needed an effective offensive player over the final 38 minutes of the game. On the other end of the floor, Rajon Rondo was really effective, but 40% of his makes were jump shots. The Hawks will be satisfied with that ratio whenever Rondo rejoins the series. 7/10

Kirk Hinrich: I put the break-even point for the diminished Kirk Hinrich at two open shots made per game. He reached that mark 189 seconds into the game and just kept going, not just knocking down shots others created for him, but creating a couple makes for himself while also rendering Avery Bradley ineffective. 7/10

Joe Johnson: Had Paul Pierce made basically any of the open jump shots Joe Johnson gave him, there might have been second-round intensity boos for Johnson during the player introductions Tuesday night. In the second half, Johnson dominated the ball like it was cap space, missing all six shots he took, turning the ball over twice and scratching only in the final minute of the fourth quarter on one of the two technical free throws Rondo gifted the Hawks. 3/10

Josh Smith: Given the Celtics' disinterest in their own missed shots, a lot of those 16 defensive rebounds were discretionary (especially with Jason Collins playing more than 31 minutes), as were many of the 12 jump shots Smith took. But he set the tone early, making several high-percentage, aggressive offensive plays in building the lead the Hawks clung to for the final three quarters and his defense was excellent all night. 8/10

Jason Collins: Everything's a bonus with Jason Collins. All six points. All five rebounds. Every time Kevin Garnett posted him up. The Celtics attacked him effectively in the pick-and-roll in the fourth quarter. After banking this win, let's hope Larry Drew ponders his Plan B. 4/10

Marvin Williams: Perhaps Game 2 of this series will feature Marvin busting out of his career-long playoff disaster. Many of those 31 Jason Collins minutes will have to go somewhere. 2/10

Tracy McGrady: Without that offensive rebound and dunk that fell in his lap, this would have been a comprehensively poor and selfish Tracy McGrady performance. His other make was an early, fall-away 20-footer and both his turnovers were train wrecks. 3/10

Willie Green: Made a shot. Gave up a made shot. Will get a chance to make a difference later in this series, I suspect. 3/10

Ivan Johnson: Energy incarnate and constantly under control. The Celtics figure to get more familiar and less pleased with his presence as the series progresses. 4/10

Jannero Pargo: I have no idea why he played so much when both Teague and Hinrich were effective. That he did was not his fault, and he wasn't bad so much as himself. Which doesn't comfort in a playoff game you're trying to hold on to. 3/10

The head coach
The rotations were weird and the third quarter offensive struggles all too familiar but Larry Drew wasn't the head coach having his team make Jason Collins' one defensible reason for being in the game relevant or overseeing some abysmal transition defense in the first half. If the Hawks score 83 points in every game in this series, they have a legitimate shot at winning three of the next six. I don't think they can necessarily do that by repeating their Game 1 performance six more times, but they took the first step. 5/10

A thought regarding the opposition
Boston would gladly take their chances on Paul Pierce scoring more than 12 points on those particular 19 field goal attempts again. Same goes for Josh Smith attempting 12 jump shots or Joe Johnson jacking up 250 feet worth of three-pointers in a single game.

However, with 41 seconds left in the Game 1, Rajon Rondo probably killed their chances of successfully playing the percentages over the rest of the series. Rondo kept the Celtics in this game. Without him, the Celtics won't be able to improve on missed chances. They'll have to conjure quality chances from some other source. Ray Allen's last hurrah appears the only marginally plausible worry for the Hawks.

3-on-3: Wherein the Gang Previews the Series

My series preview has been posted but for the full scope of opinion we need to empanel those who have kept Hoopinion running this season:

1) What is the key to Atlanta winning the series?

James Goeders: Bench scoring. In the two losses to Boston this year the Hawks' bench averaged 10.5 points in games decided by 5 points total. In the win last Friday (albeit mostly against the Boston reserves) the bench put up 30.

Buddy Grizzard: Desire. In 2008, an up-and-coming Hawks team came of age by pushing the eventual champions to 7 games. Four years later, the Celtics are old and the Hawks are in their prime. Will this be a repeat of 1988 when an aging Celtics team defeated a Dominique Wilkins-era team at its peak? Does Joe Johnson care about his legacy, or does he only care if the checks clear? Injuries are no excuse because Boston has been hit just as hard as the Hawks.

Mark Phelps: Rebounding and Penetrating. With the absence of Horford and Pachulia, the Hawks will need big games on the boards from Josh, Marvin, and a Rent-a-Center. The ability to draw fouls and force the Celtics to play their second line could also be a big swing in the Hawks’ favor.

2) What is Boston's greatest potential advantage?

James Goeders: Guard play. In the two Boston wins, Rondo averaged 10 points and 16.5 assists. Even in the Hawks victory Avery Bradley had 28 and Keyon Dooling had 17. Can Teague and Hinrich slow down Rondo and Ray Allen?

Buddy Grizzard: Playmaking. The Hawks consistently take low-percentage shots because busted isolations lead to Joe Johnson shooting a fadeaway over a double team or Josh Smith chucking a 22-footer as the shot clock expires. Rajon Rondo's ability to set up teammates allows the Celtics to score more efficiently. Jeff Teague, like Rondo, is great at attacking the basket. Both are suspect outside shooters. But Teague will likely never approach Rondo's ability as a floor general.

Mark Phelps: Rondo. In the two games he played against the Hawks, Rondo doled out an amazing 33 assists. In one game, he was able to make up for a poor shooting performance with 20 dimes. With the Celtics at full speed, Rondo’s the pilot.

3) Series prediction: Who wins? In how many games? Why?

James Goeders: The Hawks in 7. I think people will overplay the experience angle, especially since the Hawks have now advanced to the second round the last three seasons, and overlook the youth and matchup problems that the Hawks provide (Josh Smith vs Kevin Garnett, Joe Johnson vs Paul Pierce).

Buddy Grizzard: Celtics in 6. First of all, this is the biggest coaching mismatch in the postseason. Secondly, the Celtics will get inside the Hawks' heads and control the tempo and tone of the series. Josh Smith will be frustrated trying to score inside against the Celtics defense and float to the perimeter, exactly where they want him. Joe will try to play hero ball and fail.

Mark Phelps: At the risk of being too much of a homer, I’ll say Hawks in seven.
This should be a dogfight to the last second, but the home court advantage and surges in April by Josh and Marvin make me (cautiously) optimistic.

Series Preview: Atlanta Hawks v. Boston Celtics

In a series between two teams not only evenly matched but also similar, slight aberrations can have significant effect. This is a series where Zaza Pachulia's left foot or Ray Allen's right ankle might be as important as home-court advantage. That this is a series where neither team can be expected to score 90 points in a game unless the fix is in only exaggerates the importance of events on the margin between winning and losing. At that margin, Jannero Pargo or Willie Green or Vladimir Radmanovic or Keyon Dooling or Mickael Pietrus or Sasha Pavlovic might play a greater role, in the moment, than Josh Smith or Joe Johnson or Jeff Teague or Kevin Garnett or Paul Pierce or Rajon Rondo.

It's going to be a tight series. Be prepared not to be satisfied with the explanations. Why may lie just beyond the grasp.

However, there are three factors which seem like probable flashpoints for the series:

The Hawks must take advantage of the shots they make: Sometimes stubbornly simplistic analysis carries the weight of truth. In a series between two teams who don't try to rebound* their own misses, possessions figure to be very binary. Beyond that, the Hawks are going to take jump shots. The Celtics are capable of encouraging the Hawks to take jump shots (but not three-pointers) while still contesting the shots.

The Hawks are going to make shots the Celtics are happy with them taking. The Hawks have to take advantage of that and win the games where they make low-percentage shots. Hard done though they were by injuries, the Hawks were very fortunate to have Willie Green and Jannero Pargo shoot as accurately as they did over 66 games. If they can keep it up for as many as seven more games, this series becomes even more difficult for the Celtics.

*Atlanta ranks 26th in offensive rebound percentage (with Zaza Pachulia and Al Horford posting the highest rates on the team). Boston ranks 30th.

Larry Drew has to figure out the best available lineup and ride it hard: Pachulia's health will determine how tied Drew's hands end up being. There's not a Hawk who can close out effectively on Kevin Garnett. There's not an interior pairing that can close out effectively on both Kevin Garnett and Brandon Bass without encouraging one of those two to head into the post. There's not an interior pairing that will be uniformly capable of defending the pick-and-roll.

Related, the Hawks have the option of playing two small guards, better to defend Rajon Rondo and Avery Bradley. In doing so, they aren't forcing Rondo or Bradley to defend Joe Johnson on the other end. With Kevin Garnett sure to bait Josh Smith into taking as many jumpers as possible, Joe Johnson can't come a clear second to Paul Pierce in this series if the Hawks are going to win. Johnson doesn't necessarily have to best Pierce, but the typical Joe Johnson playoff performance (poor shooting, reduced scoring, fewer assists, more turnovers) isn't going to cut it.

All that being said, if the Hawks find something that works, they're in great shape because Boston cannot score consistently. Especially if Ray Allen is limited physically.

In a battle between mediocre offenses and good defenses, the team that converts turnovers into transition points will prevail: Only five teams turned the ball over on a higher percentage of their possessions than the Celtics did this season. Converting those into scoring chances before Boston's defense gets set, either by mitigating the low-percentage shots they figure to take in the half-court or by getting some free points they don't typically get at the free throw line, will be key for the Hawks.

The Hawks don't turn the ball over very often. Boston, however, was fourth in the league in forcing turnovers this season. If Boston turns the Hawks over, then an Atlanta offense that struggles to score against good defenses will collapse entirely against the Celtics. The Hawks could get invaluable offensive contributions from Pargo, Green, reigning Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month Ivan Johnson, Tracy McGrady or Vladimir Radmanovic. All of those guys, save Green, also turn the ball over on at least 14% of the possessions they use.

The prediction: The only things that would surprise me in this series were for it to last fewer than six games or for a team to score 100 points in a game that lasts less than three overtimes. Neither team has the offensive firepower to control a game, much less the series. With a healthy Zaza Pachulia, this series would be, from Atlanta's perspective, at worst a toss up. I'm not confident Pachulia can have a positive impact on the series.

If he can't, that puts tremendous pressure on the undersized Ivan Johnson, the oversized Jason Collins, the physically inconsistent Tracy McGrady and Vladimir Radmanovic, and the thoroughly inconsistent Marvin Williams to be as productive in doing the dirty work as Pachulia managed in Al Horford's absence. Absent Pachulia, it also puts tremendous pressure on Larry Drew to make good use of mismatched pieces. Against Boston's defense, against Pierce's and Garnett's remaining talent and desire, even wise or clever decisions are not certain to pay off. Celtics in 6.

Initial Feedback: Of Possums and Sheep Dogs

Initial feedback: A completely subjective and immediate response to the events of tonight's game, featuring a comment and rating, the latter on a scale of 1 to 10, on every player who saw the floor and the head coach, along with ephemera and miscellany as the author deems necessary.

Your ratings and commentary, dear reader, are welcomed in the comments to this post.

Boxscore

Players

Joe Johnson: When Josh Smith and Joe Johnson checked out of the game with 20 seconds to play and the win finally secure, Hawks public address announcer Ryan Cameron tried to pump up the crowd to give them an ovation. I was reminded of a Monty Python movie: “And there was much rejoicing… yay!” 7/10

Josh Smith: The Hawks’ body language throughout this game showed how much of a humiliation it was to need a full effort to beat a team missing 5 of its top 7 rotation players. 6/10

Jason Collins: Ivan Johnson has had nice games this year against All-Star centers Marc Gasol and Roy Hibbert, and a relatively-healthy Andrew Bogut. Jason Collins had a nice game against Greg Stiemsma. 6/10

Kirk Hinrich: We can only take comfort in the fact that the only player on Boston’s roster slow enough for Kirk to guard, Ray Allen, did not play in this game. 3/10

Jeff Teague: We can only hope that Teague was playing possum and that he will flip the switch in the playoffs. Otherwise this Jekyll and Hyde routine is a bad horror movie I don’t care to watch. 2/10

Tracy McGrady: T-Mac has had a series of strong performances that seemed to say, “I’m shaking the rust off and ready to contribute in the playoffs.” That series ended with a 1point, 4 rebound, 5 turnover performance in 14 minutes. 2/10

Vladimir Radmanovic: Watching Vlad try to check a player like Keyon Dooling on the perimeter is like watching a fire hydrant try to check Keyon Dooling on the perimeter. 4/10

Jannero Pargo: Shot only 1-for-4, all from three point range, but had three assists against only one turnover in 17 minutes. I’ll take it. We know Jannero can hit shots. 4/10

Willie Green: I talk bad about Willie for having the worst aggregate +/- for the season for the Hawks, but he has won several games with his shooting. This was another. 6/10

Ivan Johnson: Ivan was building a bit of a legend for himself as a player with a burning desire to win and willingness to call out his teammates for lack of effort. Failure to cross the half court line for an entire defensive possession will not help build that legend. 3/10

Marvin Williams: The box score says he played 23 minutes. I didn’t notice. 3/10

The head coach

Larry Drew often paces the sideline whistling like a manic shepherd with 5 blind sheep dogs. In this game he pointedly disdained to rise from his chair and act as if he was coaching against Doc Rivers. Drew told the AJC he didn’t want to “tip his hand” about offensive and defensive changes he has prepared for the playoffs. It’s good to think we won’t see one busted isolation after another in the postseason. I was starting to wonder if the Hawks have an offense. 3/10

A thought regarding the opposition

As Joe and Josh checked out to their rousing ovation, Doc Rivers stood on the sideline, clipboard in hand, ready to draw up another play trailing by 7 with 20 seconds to play. He came close to beating the Hawks with two starters and players 8 through 15 in the Celtics’ rotation.

Hobbled Hawks Meet Short-Handed Celtics in Possible First Round Playoff Preview

As Joe Johnson told Atlanta Journal-Constitution Hawks beat writer Chris Vivlamore following the Hawks' 116-84 victory over the Detroit Pistons Wednesday, "We control our own destiny. We just have to win out and everything else will take care of itself."

This is true, as the Hawks remain one game ahead of the Boston Celtics in the loss column. The Hawks must finish with a better record than the Celtics to win home court advantage in the first round since Boston owns the tie-break, having won the season series.

So, as Joe said, the Hawks just need to win out. Easier said than done. The Hawks finish the season with 4 home games against teams that have clinched playoff berths. Starting with tonight's matchup against possible first round opponent the Celtics, the Hawks close the season against the Knicks on Sunday, The L.A. Clippers on Tuesday and the defending-champion Mavericks on Thursday.

Should the Hawks fail to secure home court advantage, they may come to regret their failure to show up against the Toronto Raptors on Sunday. Meanwhile, Orlando remains a game behind the Hawks and will have a hard time overtaking them for the 5th seed. The Magic, after news of Dwight Howard's season-ending back surgery, face road games against Utah, Denver and Memphis (all in playoff position) with a single home game against Charlotte.

Thus, tonights game at Phillips Arena against the Celtics has a reasonable probability of being a preivew of the Hawks' first round playoff series. A win tonight would put the Hawks two games ahead of the Celtics in the loss column, allowing a slightly greater margin for error. In that scenario, the Hawks would need to go 2-1 against their remaining opponents to finish with a better record than the Celtics.

Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference, the Miami Heat's 83-72 win over the Chicago Bulls Thursday night has tightened the race for the top seed. Chicago remains a game up in the loss column, but if the teams finish with identical records, the tie break could be interesting. The teams split four regular season games and both won division titles, eliminating two potential tie break scenarios. The third tie break would be winning percentage against Eastern Conference teams (Chicago is currently 36-10, Miami 35-10), followed by winning percentage against playoff teams from the Eastern Conference, then the Western Conference. The final tie break would be net points from all games played.

The significance for the Hawks of the tight race for the top playoff seed in the conference is that the Celtics will play a motivated Heat squad Tuesday after facing the Hawks. A loss to the Heat by the Celtics would provide the Hawks with additional margin for error.

Initial Feedback: Try, Try Again

Initial feedback: A completely subjective and immediate response to the events of tonight's game, featuring a comment and rating, the latter on a scale of 1 to 10, on every player who saw the floor and the head coach, along with ephemera and miscellany as the author deems necessary.

Your ratings and commentary, dear reader, are welcomed in the comments to this post.

Boxscore


Players

Jeff Teague: Teague's hot streak has continued as he slashed the Celtics middle for 21 points on 8-12 shooting and six assists, and I'm not sure I can understand why he didn't receive the ball for the last shot of the game. Had five turnovers, but his aggressive play sparked the offense. 8/10

Josh Smith: Smith started the game hot, but fell in love with the jumper and ended up missing 3 three-pointers. A terrible overtime period concluding on a missed opportunity to score a touch pass to Teague for a wide-open shot. Josh provided our best rebounding in a game where it was desperately needed. 5/10

Joe Johnson: Joe struggled to find his range all game, shooting only 5-17 and 0-5 on threes. He did contribute by playing good defense on Pierce, but in the end, tight games for the Hawks go as Joe goes, and Joe was not on today. 4/10

Kirk Hinrich: Kirk gave the Hawks good defense while on the floor and made the only basket in overtime, but his shooting woes have continued, shooting only 39% in his last five games. 3/10

Zaza Pachulia: Zaza came out with his usual energy against the Celtics. He was instrumental in getting Garnett and Stiemsma fouled out, which gave the Hawks a fighting chance, all while putting up 13 points and seven rebounds. The C's bring out the fun side of Zaza. 8/10

Marvin Williams: Williams couldn't carry his recent good shooting streak into this game as he struggled from the field. Reasonable D and six boards don't always make up for the many missed opportunities like Marvin had tonight. 4/10

Tracy McGrady: Tracy McGrady played 14 minutes? You'd never know. 2/10

Jannero Pargo: Coming off a reasonably good game in Charlotte, Pargo showed that those kind of games come against bad teams. Boston shut down his game. No made shots and poor defense -- and it was under his watch that the Celtics made some of their best runs. 1/10

Willie Green: Some days I wonder if Pargo and Green are psychically connected. Green's day echoed Pargo's, with no made shots and poor defense, but tack on a terrible -11 in the +/- column. 1/10

Ivan Johnson: Ivan has made great strides this year (see Buddy's column about it), but looked downright lost when dealing with Garnett and Bass. I don't blame him too much, as most defenders do, but it speaks to his time on the court that he tied for a team-low -17 while on the floor. 3/10

The head coach

Drew should be given some credit for keeping the Hawks in the game as the C's were up and down, mostly for keeping the game in reach while the 2nd unit struggled. That said, the final plays in regulation and overtime lacked vision, with Iso-Joe being the main option, giving the Hawks only rushed, poorly set shots (in, let's face it, plenty of tries). 6/10


A thought regarding the opposition

Did anyone think that Glen Davis was ever gonna be better than Brandon Bass? What an easy trade to make. They've never looked back. Also, the win for the Celtics ties them, the Hawks, and the Magic for the 4-5-6 spots in the East. If the season ended at the time of this posting, tonight's game would be a preview of an extremely fun series.

Celtics Provide Heat Check For Hawks Tonight

It's been 23 days since the Hawks faced the Celtics and I noted the tough road ahead for Boston, at the time the 7th seed in the Eastern Conference playoff picture. Since then, the teams in the middle of the Eastern playoff pack have headed in sometimes unexpected directions. Orlando is 5-7 since March 19th and has fallen from 3rd in the East to 6th, thanks in no small part to issues between Dwight Howard and coach Stan Van Gundy.

Meanwhile the 76ers, once clearly the third-best team in the East, have been overtaken for the Atlantic Division lead by the Celtics and dropped to 7th. This is thanks in no small part to the team apparently tuning out Doug Collins while simultaneously turning on each other. In the former link, former 76ers beat writer Kate Fagan describes the culture clash between the 76ers old guard and younger players since the team changed ownership. In the latter, Andre Iguodala is quoted by Sports Illustrated saying that teammate Lou Williams "can't guard anybody." Not the sort of team-building togetherness you want right before the playoffs.

By contrast, and despite a schedule heavy on road games and teams in playoff position, the Boston Celtics are on fire. The best explanation I've read of the Celtics' late surge is this piece by ESPN.com's Kevin Arnovitz:

[Brandon] Bass didn't arrive in Boston with the reputation as the league's most linear thinker on defense, but in the confines of the Celtics' system, he is doing fine. That's the thing about systems, Boston's in particular. [Ray] Allen was regarded as a sieve when he came over from Seattle in 2007, but immediately adopted the principles that governed the Celtics' D.

Arnovitz notes Doc Rivers' decision to move defensive ace Avery Bradley into the starting lineup and bring Allen's offense off the bench. The results are hard to argue with as the C's have gone 10-3 since March 19th, including impressive home-and-away wins over Miami. The team's only losses in that stretch were to West-leading San Antonio, East-leading Chicago and the formerly-impressive 76ers.

This leads me to conclude that it is very much in the Hawks' interest to overtake Indiana for the 3rd seed in the East. Assuming the current leaders win their divisions, the Hawks may need to achieve the 3rd seed to avoid facing Boston, Chicago or Miami in the first round. A first-round matchup with Orlando or Philadelphia, two teams in disarray, or Indiana, featuring the player (Roy Hibbert) who took Josh Smith's spot on the All-Star team, sounds a bit more appealing.

The Hawks must also win in Boston tonight to avoid losing the season series to the Celtics and thus a tie-break advantage in the event the teams finish with identical records. Since losing the first game of the season series to Boston March 19th, the Hawks have gone 8-3. However, only one of those wins came against a team currently in playoff position (March 30th over the Knicks).

The Celtics play the second night of a back-to-back after flying home from Miami, while the Hawks play after three days off. If the Hawks want to win the battle for perception and prove that they are better than they are given credit for, tonight's game will be a good place to start. I may end up eating my words from early in the season when I referred to Collins as a "successful" coach. It appears Larry Drew may be succeeding where Collins is failing.