The Celtics beat the Hawks, 110-85, at the Garden last night. Boston returned to Bill Belichick Cover Five defense, got serious help from its bench, and dismissed the Hawks in appropriate fashion.
Unfortunately, it's not over yet. Your team will be leaving on a midday plane to Georgia and looking to win again tomorrow night to advance to the second round of the playoffs. It should be easy. But that's what we thought about Games 3 and 4.
"We're going to have to go in there and play like we did tonight," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "We have to do it again. We have to do it on the road."
It should never have gotten this far. Ultimately, this series amounts to painful elaboration of the obvious. The Hawks should never have won twice at Philips Arena and have no business taking the series to six or (gulp) seven games. The Celtics know this. They can't say it, but they know it.
The Hawks were 37-45 this season. They finished 29 games behind the Celtics. They finished 19th in a 30-team league. Counting the playoffs, they are 12-32 on the road. I repeat - 12-32. And we are supposed to think they would have a chance to win here Sunday in a Game 7?
Celtics fans enjoyed their Garden party last night, but in truth, it's a little pathetic the Hub has to get all hysterical about beating the Hawks. It's like Yale putting out a press release when it gets named one of America's top 50 colleges by US News & World Report. Or Alex Rodriguez cracking open champagne when he's named to the American League All-Star team.
There were no menacing gestures in Game 5. No head-butts. No Larry-Dominique shootouts. No Tree Rollins biting Danny Ainge.
As often happens in a seven-game set, talent and athleticism were junked in the name of psychology and karma. The highly favored Celtics somehow morphed into nervous underachievers during their two losses at Philips Arena. Back home in New England, this gave way to regional anxiety not seen since the days the Red Sox were battling 86 years of bad luck.
