What should have been finished in 6 or less games, finally happened in Game 7 as the Celts finally won their first round series against pesky Atlanta. And they did it in very impressive fashion rolling out to an 11 point lead after 1, increasing that lead to 18 by halftime and then just annihilating the Hawks in the 3rd quarter to turn the game into an old fashioned blowout. By the end of the 3rd frame, the C's lead was 36 points and they were able to rest all their starters in the final period, which turned into a quarter of complete garbage time. The damage was done quick and early and resulted in the home team winning every game in this series.
The game was definitely a statement game, and one in which the Celts needed to make. To come into the playoffs with the best record of any team and also facing the team with the worst record in the playoffs, they were the only favored team to be pushed to 7 games. It was an embarrassment. Give some credit to the Hawks for playing so well at their house, but the refs blowing so many whistles in favor of the Hawks really negated that vaunted Celtics defense that they had been #1 in the league throughout the year. It was very refreshing to see the refs put the whistles away in Game 7 and let the men play ball. Without those tiky-tac fouls to give the high-percentage free-throw shooting Atlanta team those freebie shots to stay close in games, the Hawks had no shot. Only Joe Johnson kept Atlanta in relative close distance in the first half with his 4 3-pointers. The rest of the Hawks players were no factor, including Horford and Josh Smith who had been major factors in the series.
There were two plays of the game. The first was Marvin Williams clothes-lining and sending Rajon Rondo to the floor with a hard flagrant foul on a fastbreak breakaway layup. The refs reviewed the play and quickly ejected Williams, who not normally a dirty player did indeed make a dirty play there as Rondo could have been seriously hurt. After some time laying on the court, Rondo bounced back up and played great the rest of the way. The other interesting play was at the end of the 3rd period as KG set up for a legal pick as Pachulia was coming up the court guarding his man and had no idea KG was setup there. Pachulia got leveled by KG who stood his ground and made his own statement to the pesky Pachulia was had been a pain all series long. KG was called for the foul, but the refs got that one wrong. There was nothing wrong or dirty about that play even though it looked that way. It was a great moment and sparked Doc to get his starters out of the game before things got too heated and avoid risking unnecessary injuries.
Overall, the Celts played their butts off on defense completely shutting down the Hawks. Perkins had a tremendous game as well as Powe and KG in the frontline as they all set the tone up front. Pierce, Rondo, Posey and Cassell all played well with Ray Allen being the only guy off on this day. Ray missed many wide-open shots in this game, where if he had been making those, the game would have been a blowout in the much earlier in the first half. I expect Ray to play much better in the next series.
So LeBron and his Cleveland Cavaliers come to town for Game 1 Tuesday night. The Cavs may think they can steal game 1, but I think the Celts have things right in the gear they want coming off this game. If they play sound defense and keep up the intensity, I expect the momentum to stay with them. Stay tuned for a preview of this series coming up next.
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