Celtics win Game 1

The Celtics finally started their postseason quest for Banner #17 last night with their first meaningful playoff game in quite some time last night and took care of the 8^th seeded Atlanta Hawks in fairly easy fashion.

The Celts displayed why they are a tough match-up for all other teams out there and exactly why nobody would want to face us. Although Atlanta kept things interesting and close in the first half, the C's exhibited their versatility all game long with different guys catching fire for certain periods of time.

Paul Pierce started the assault immediately with three effortless 3's in a row. KG was solid all night with his contributions amidst battling foul trouble after a couple questionable calls going against him. Sam Cassell caught fire in the 2^nd quarter with 7 straight points to keep us ahead while the Hawks were battling back and keeping things close.

Boston pushed the lead in the first half to double digits on a few different occasions, but always saw the Hawks battle back, even to as close as 4 points mid 2^nd quarter. The lead stood at 9 points at halftime with a 49-40 lead. Atlanta was doing a decent job defending and getting lucky with some timely offensive boards.

The third quarter was when the C's finally stepped things up and put it into gear. They came out with some extra defensive intensity and the player of the game in my opinion, Ray Allen, absolutely caught fire. Sweet Baby Ray scored 10 straight points in a pivotal Celtics run that changed the game and blew the game wide open extending the lead to 18. This is exactly what is so tough about the Celtics. They have guys that can score in bunches. Pierce showed it in the 1^st and is always that threat. Obviously KG. Cassell caught fire in the 2^nd. It was Ray's turn in the 3^rd. To end the 3^rd quarter, Rondo went on a 6-0 run himself as well. They were all getting into the act.

Speaking of Rondo, he has long been seen as the Celtics weak link - his inexperience, his inconsistent shooting, etc… Well last night was Rondo's first playoff game and he passed that test with flying colors. 15 pts, 9 assists, 6 rebounds and the key stat of zero turnovers! He totally outplayed the veteran Mike Bibby and made Bibby look slow and sad out there. He has grown into a much smarter and in-control player who makes good decisions with the ball and knows when to drive and when to keep that defense honest and knock down a couple wide open looks. One unbelievable stat is his 49% FG shooting on the season was the best shooting percentage by a Celtics guard in like 15 years! For a guy not known for his shooting where that was his biggest deficiency, that was pretty damn good.

Back to the game, the 4^th quarter was just a matter of keeping our 18-27 point lead and sealing the deal. There would be no final quarter flops or comebacks in this one. Boston kept the pressure on and played solid basketball in the final frame and were able to get the bench guys their playing time and give the starters some good rest and keep their minutes to a respectable low. The final score ended up being 104-81, so they won by 23 and played consistent for much of the night not getting caught up in any long scoring droughts. Ray led the scoring with 18, KG and Pierce had 16 a piece, Rondo 15, and Cassell and Powe added 10 a piece. Posey played well as usual too. Ray gets my vote for player of the game and Powe got my vote for the play of the game with his slam-dunk fall-to-the-floor play in which KG and Cassell immediately pounced on him with KG in particular intense fashion just absolutely screaming at him psyching him up for such a tremendous play. KG kept this up right in Powe's face for their entire walk back to the bench for a timeout and was entirely hilarious to watch. You gotta love KG's intensity. There is nothing else like it.

So we move on now to focus on Game 2 set for Wednesday night. As far as the Celts are concerned, they actually have room for improvement, which is scary since they won by 23. That is not good news for the young Hawks. Their big guys need to stay away from the cheap tic-tac fouls – meaning obviously Garnett. They need to do a better job on the defensive boards to keep Atlanta from getting all those offensive rebounds, which keeps them hanging around in games. But other than that, just more of the same consistent play we have seen all season long with solid contributions coming from every guy who steps on that court. I will note one thing that surprised me was Eddie House only getting 5 minutes of playing time after being a regular off the bench all season. Much of that has to do with Cassell now finally clicking with this team, but Doc will need to keep him locked in and on target for us.

In terms of Atlanta and what they need to do differently to stop this Celtics freight train? They have an unbelievably tough task to keep things up for a full 48 minutes against us to come out with a win. They need career nights from their backcourt duo of Joe Johnson and Mike Bibby. Johnson has it in him to go off against us, but Bibby looks like he has his hands full with Rondo and has lost a step these days. Al Horford needs to just keep doing what he did last night getting 20-10 and looking like their best player on the floor even though he is their rookie. Josh Smith and Childress and just inconsistent athletic guys and they need much more from Marvin Williams who was a complete no-show last night for them. The Hawks do not have much for a bench so those are the players they are relying on against us and they may keep some games close with their athletic ability but I see this series as either a complete 4-0 sweep or at worst 4-1. I do not see the Celtics losing 2 games to these Hawks with the plenty of rest and preparation time between playoff games, which gives days in between each game.

So the postseason playoff countdown is finally on. 1 win in the books and 15 to go!