Saturday, April 26, 2008

Not Lanta

Well, for the first time this season the Hawks didn't lose by double digits to the Celtics. They even beat them! While the masochist in us may look at SA and LAL up 3-0 and think them superior to Boston at the present moment, let's stay real. Tonight the Hawks shot the ball well, particularly from behind the arc. This was aided by uncharacteristically flat defense by the Celtics throughout the evening, and the results are therefore understandable. The Celtics were not their customarily dominant defensive selves tonight, which we can pardon given that they utterly destroyed the Hawks every other time this year. So I will say it - perhaps the C's were a little too carefree tonight. ARE YOU PANICKING YET? Please don't, appreciate the splendor of Josh Smith and let everything else go. If the Green are at the short end of the stick on Monday then we'll have more sinister words, but till then you may still rest your head in blankets made of stars...

I'm not really keen on Leon only getting 6 minutes when they could have used him on the inside (where KG had his way the whole evening). I love Pose, but don't know if he had to play 25 minutes at the expense of Powe, and I don't know if P.J. had to play at all. Philips Arena is a joke - the clock thing was just another reminder of how bush league this franchise has become. Yeah, the energy appeared good in the stadium - almost the same as a regular season game in Sacramento. Like we've said many times already, fuck this series. Please let it be over without anyone getting hurt.

1 comment:

wharper said...

Think Bibby minded all of the "Fair-Weather" Atlanta fans who decided to show up for the post-season?

Not meaning to knock Atlanta fans, here - I remember what it was like in 2002, that first playoff series against Philly. A lot was said about the Celts' lack of playoff experience, but when the tipoff approached, it was clear that the Boston crowd had an incredible amount of playoff experience of their own. It had just been a while. Same for the Atlanta fans, this time around.

While I've been impressed by both Smith and Horford I can't stand either Bibby or Pachulia. Bibby trying to work the ref to get Rondo's ticky-tack warding offensive foul amidst the Cs only late run was annoying, made even more so by the ref biting on it.

Cs looked completely limp in the second half - also, while I know it's not an excuse for the game's result, it can't be denied that the Hawks uptempo style of play didn't seem to be hindered by the 24 second clock absence. Watching some of ESPN's coverage the commentator spoke of the Hawks aiming to score within the first 7 seconds of each possession as a way to counteract the Cs typically stellar D - with that mindset, who cares when the 'invisible clock' expires?