Playoffs Post Ups - Conference Quarterfinals vs. Atlanta Hawks

Sunday, May 4 - Game 7, Hawks at Celtics

Postgame Reaction

Doc Rivers:
"I just told them after the game that that was the Celtics. I thought obviously, that we played terrific basketball tonight. The defensive energy was off the charts and the offense was great."

"I was really proud of them. Just a great effort. Two things that I noticed this series was that the two biggest games we played our best. Game 5 and Game 7. I think that for this team, you know, a lot of the players have been through a lot of playoff games, but we haven't been through anything as a team. I thought this was important for us. The pressure from this will probably pay off later."

Paul Pierce:
"I really had no doubt in my mind how we was going to come out tonight. You kind of saw it from the guys after game 6 on the plane, wasn't a lot of talking, we knew that we let a couple games get away in Atlanta and I just knew we was going to take care of business tonight. It was sort of like we didn't really talk about it, but you kind of like read everybody you kind of felt everybody especially on the plane coming home from game 6. I was telling everybody I was so happy that the game was at 1 o'clock because there was no way I could of sat at home today all day today because of my anxiousness to get back on the court after game 6 from the way I been feeling the past couple days."

Kevin Garnett:
"I haven't slept, so I should get some sleep tonight. Been up for damn near 24 hours just thinking about game 6 and the things we need to do tonight. I felt like Paul set the tone of how we was going to play by going to the basket, being very aggressive early. I thought Rondo was very aggressive early, even Ray Allen was aggressive early driving to the basket. I knew defensively when we was going through walk-through how we was going to be for the game and we pretty much just thought up lets get it on. For the most part the energy was there, I don't think we missed any assignments. Obviously they scored, but a lot of the things we wanted to do as far as strategy, we did that."

Ray Allen:
"The performance that we put out there tonight is very typical of what we have done all year, or who we wanted to be. I think on both ends of the floor we were very aggressive. Just starting out the game, Rondo pushed the ball, we got stops, we made them uncomfortable on defense and offensively, we scored from all angles."

"I wasn't nervous. I didn't sleep last night, just because before I go to sleep I let go of everything that happened during the day, last night I was just thinking so much about the game, and what I wanted to do, how I wanted to do it, and what we needed to do. About 12:00, I started to send text messages to my teammates. When I got here this morning, I had to ask to make sure my attempts weren't feudal. They were encouragement texts, just letting them know that I was over here thinking about what was going to happen today, on Sunday, so just making sure everybody knew about all the great things we have done all season."

Postgame Links

Recap | Box Score | Highlights

Live from Courtside

99-65 Celtics, FINAL: Well, since there was a full quarter of garbage time, there wasn't much to post...

79-43 Celtics, End of 3rd: Is Gino even in the building yet?

70-34 Celtics, 3:05/3rd: Some fancy passing and diving on the floor by KG. Has he seen the scoreboard? Either way, he just finished a bucket under the hoop with a message for the Garden fans. "It's Over!" he screamed while pulling back his jersey to reveal his heart. A few other unbloggable words in there too...

68-34 Celtics, 3:37/3rd: It's bedlam here in the Garden. This 34 point lead not only seems safe, it appears to be growing. Perk's got 10 and 10 tonight and it's his most impressive performance of his career in my view.

Know any good restaurants in Cleveland?

62-32 Celtics, 5:17/3rd: An 18-6 run to start the half and the tidal wave of defense is crushing the Hawks. The Hawks are 2-12 to start the half, and they are just about to pack it in. Meanwhile, Rondo looks even more composed since the WWE takedown under the basket. Pierce has seven of Boston's 18 points here in the third quarter.

53-28 Celtics, 9:09/3rd: Flagrant 2 foul on Marvin Williams for clotheslining Rajon Rondo on a breakaway layup. Williams did try to cradle Rondo on the way down, but the hit was too violent and worthy of the ejection he received. Rondo, for his part, knocked down his two free throws and the C's kept the ball.

44-26 Celtics, Halftime: Now that's the Celtics defense we've been missing. Hawks shooting 26% from the floor for the half. And if you've seen Josh Smith, Mike Woodson's probably looking for him...

42-26 Celtics, 2:34/2nd: One Celtic who is struggling? Ray Allen. He's just 2/11, his jumpers seem to be coming up short, and his regular lift is missing. Only Pierce and KG have scored on long range jumpers, everything else has been in the paint.

34-20 Celtics, 7:21/2nd: Leon Powe has once again made the most of his minutes; he's got four points and three rebounds in seven minutes.

32-18 Celtics, 8:59/2nd: A P.J. Brown swat and the second personal foul on Josh Smith got the attention of this capacity crowd. Atlanta needs to get some offensive production outside of Johnson; Smith, Bibby and Marvin Williams are a combined 3-13 from the field. And the Hawks have turned it over seven times already.

27-16 Celtics, End of 1st: Paul Pierce leads all scorers with 9 points (Joe Johnson also has nine for Atlanta) but the work of Kendrick Perkins on the inside, setting a physical tone and windexing the glass (six rebounds in 12 minutes) is the most impressive performance thus far. Just before the end of the quarter, James Posey came in to harass Johnson, and Joe got nothing on the final shot of the quarter. Look for more Posey on Johnson tonight.

20-10 Celtics, 2:15/1st: The energy is building in here with every possession. The Celtics continue to score inside, and the Hawks don't seem to have an answer. Pierce, Perk and KG all have four rebounds or more, and they're looking to start the break as soon as they clear the ball.

16-8 Celtics, 4:44/1st: The C's are pushing the pace and running the floor while the Hawks are walking it up the floor, but Atlanta doesn't have a choice. The C's are killing them on the glass, 12-6, and the Hawks are just 3-13 from the field.

10-5 Celtics, 7:07/1st: It's so loud I can't even hear myself blog. Anyway, the Celtics fell down quickly 3-2 but now have a 10-5 lead thanks to some inside scoring from Paul Pierce, Kendrick Perkins and Ray Allen. The C's are getting to all of the 50/50 balls early and beating the Hawks on the boards 9-to-3.

Tipoff: It's loud in here. AN organic "Let's Go Celtics" chant is underway...

Ready To Rock

As expected, it was all quiet on the Celtics front. With one game representing the possible end to their season, most of the Celtics stayed out of the locker room during media availability. P.J. Brown stopped by his locker for a quick jelly sandwich -- KG has the team hooked on them -- and commented that the team seems like it's in the right frame of mind. He would know, he's played in an entire regular season's worth of playoff games.

Doc Rivers kept his pregame interview short, saying that there won't be any Knute Rockne speeches before this one. A Game 7 speaks for itself, he said, and he just needs to remind the Celtics of who they are: the best defensive team in the league.

"We are playing a Game 7 because in three games we haven't been the best defensive team," Rivers said.

Phil Collins' In the Air Tonight is starting the slow burn towards tipoff. It's fitting since there hasn't been a Game 7 buzz like this in the Garden in quite some time.

While he didn't participate in yesterday's walkthrough, Rivers said Paul Pierce should be ready to go.

- Couper Moorhead

Saturday, May 3 - Pierce Sits Out Walkthrough

Practice Update

The Celtics staged a film session and walkthrough at The Sports Authority Training Center at HealthPoint today, and the biggest news coming out of today's session is that Paul Pierce did not participate in the walkthrough after injuring his hip during Friday night's Game 6 loss in Atlanta. While Coach Doc Rivers said he expects Pierce to be ready to go for tomorrow's game, it's already been a tough couple of weeks for Pierce after a hard take-down in Game 2 and a tough foul call that earned him a DQ last night.

Pierce and Kevin Garnett did not meet with the media on Saturday.

You can see Doc's post-practice presser, along with interviews with Ray Allen and James Posey in CelticVision HD, or listen to them in the Celtics Audio Archive.

11 a.m. on Celtics.com

An extremely limited quantity of tickets for Game 7 between the Hawks and Celtics, to be played tomorrow, Sunday May 4 at 1 p.m., will go on sale at 11 a.m. today here on Celtics.com.

• Direct Link: Game 7 - Atlanta Hawks at Boston Celtics

Friday, May 2 - Celtics at Hawks, Game 6

Links

Recap | Box Score | Highlights

Postgame Reaction

Head Coach Doc Rivers: "They hung in there. They did not act like a young team at the end. Them shooting forty-seven free throws to us shooting twenty-five makes that a tough game to win. Paul (Pierce) being in foul trouble late in the game really hurt us. It's tough that we scored 100 points in a game and didn't win because usually play such good defense. One thing they did better than us tonight was get pretty much every loose ball and make shots after getting the loose ball."

(On three-point miss by Ray Allen) "With about 20 seconds left we tried to get Ray (Allen) to come off a pick around Kevin (Garnett), not take a shot, and then dump it off to Kevin. In a two-point game, I liked our chances. I will never question a shot from Ray."

(About game seven at home) "We feel good at home all the time. That's why we fought all year to get home-court advantage. As I said after Game 5, we can't just hang our hat on being home."

James Posey: "We just put ourselves in this situation. We have to give them credit. They got the win. We still have to go out there and play the game and play defense, get stops, and win the game. We need to do things like that whether we are at home or on the road. The Hawks have been a better team here in Atlanta. They did a great job on adjustments. We had our opportunity to win the game, but they got stops, rebounded, and made plays on the offensive end when they had to. For one of the teams, it's going to be their last game. Just expect anything and everything."

Sam Cassell: "We're going home and our crowd will be behind us. There's still energy on the home court, but you have to expect the unexpected. We need our fans in Boston to be fired up for this game, but we need to be fired up too. We've got one of the best records in the league at home, so we just have to go out there and do what we have to."

Early Pregame

The word from the ATL is that the Celtics have cancelled their morning shootaround in favor of an afternoon film session/walkthrough and team meeting in a ballroom at the team hotel.

Thursday, May 1

Links

Recap | Box Score | Highlights

More: Despite Rough Series, Pierce Responds in Game 5 | Game 5 Photo Gallery | Locker Room Video

Wednesday, April 30 - Hawks at Celtics, Game 5

Postgame Wrap Up

Plenty of things stood out in tonight's win, but here's just a few that caught my eye in the Game 5 win.

- James Posey typically spends about an hour or so working on his shooting after practice, and a large portion of his drills revolve around shooting threes on the run from the wing. He nailed just that very shot on the break to end the third quarter, putting the C's up 81-64. So while media members seeking interviews often get annoyed while waiting around after practice for Posey to finish, his drills seem to pay off.

- Leon Powe has had his ups and downs so far in the playoffs, but he chipped in nicely tonight with 10 points and seven rebounds, five of which came on the offensive end. Powe was a 20-10 guy at Cal and certainly knows how to score on the block, but he's at his best with the Celtics when he's cleaning up after others and banging bodies with the bigs down low. He plays taller than his 6'8" height.

"I thought offensively and his rebounding was great. You know, individually he was great defensively," Rivers said of Powe. "Team defense he still has a way to go but he's getting it and he's getting better."

- Ray Allen is one of the most fundamentally sound shooters you'll ever see, but sometimes it seems like he needs a guy running up at him or just to catch the ball fading away from the basket to find his stroke. We'll have to ask him about that one. He told me back in the middle of the year that his body starts to "tingle" in the seconds before he's about to catch the ball for a wide open shot. I'm guessing there were a few tingles tonight.

"We played inside out," Allen said of the Celtics' attack. "I think the last two games we had good looks, but tonight we just made a concerted effort to get the ball in the post and kick it out to the perimeter."

- Coming into tonight's action, after four games the Celtics had 15 blocks as a team. Josh Smith had that many by himself in the first four games. But the C's managed to make him basically a non-factor around the basket tonight. He blocked just one shot while the Celtics rejected nine shots in Game 5.

- The Hawks didn't look like the same team that showed up in Games 3 and 4, but they are still getting to the free throw line much more than the Celtics. In Game 5, the Hawks connected on 25 of 29 freebies, while the Celtics hit just 11 of 15.

Pregame

Couper Moorhead checks in with today's Game 5 preview.

Game 5 preview | Live Scoreboard (8:30)

Tuesday, April 29 - Practice

No Fines/Suspensions from Game 4

According to Doc Rivers, Danny Ainge spent most of his morning on the phone trying to get word from the NBA on what -- if any -- discipline would be imposed on the Celtics and Hawks for a skirmish that broke out in the first half of Monday night's Game 4 with the Atlanta Hawks and saw players from both benches almost enter the court.

Moments before Doc Rivers learned that the Celtics would not be assessed any suspensions, he told reporters that the team was prepared to play with or without anyone who might be suspended from Wednesday's Game 5 at the Garden. Starting center Kendrick Perkins was shown on TNT's replay as having barely crossed the sideline, as was Hawks forward Marvin Williams. But neither player ever really made it onto the floor, nor seemed to demonstrate such intent, and presumably were afforded the benefit of the doubt from the league office with that in mind.

Before learning of the verdict, Rivers told reporters that he understands how players lose self-restraint on the court, admitting to being involved in about three or four dust-ups of his own in his playing days.

"The game is emotional," Rivers said. "For everyone outside of the game, it's easy to say, 'Just step away.'"

With that out of the way, Rivers and the Celtics can go back to thinking about what they need to do to wrest control of the series back from the Hawks, and according to the Coach, it starts with doing what got them through the regular season: relying on their defense rather than trying to rely on their offense.

"We've got to get back to the [make them] miss a shot mentality," Rivers said, noting that about eight points of Joe Johnson's 20-point fourth quarter eruption should have never happened had the team not missed defensive assignments.

"He never should have touched the ball," Rivers said of those eight points upon which the C's failed to deny Johnson the basketball. "Give him credit, he made some tough shots, but we helped."

One area the Celtics did excel at on the defensive end was keeping the Hawks out of transition, which proves important not only because it gives away easy buckets, but the Hawks and their crowd is easily riled up by a breakaway dunk. But most importantly, the Celtics have been on the wrong end of the foul situation. When the Hawks have gotten to the line, it's allowed them to set their defense and kept the Celtics out of transition themselves.

Meanwhile, Rivers made note of Josh Smith's shotblocking, something Rivers admitted he'd feared would be a factor coming into the series. Rivers said he'd rather see his players take the ball to Smith and force him to try to make shots rather than trying to double-clutch and second guess their shots.

Late Practice Today

The Celtics are slated to practice today at 3 p.m. at the Sports Authority Training Center at HealthPoint today to prepare for tomorrow night's Game 5 matchup against the Hawks.

Also of note, Reebok is going to distribute green T-shirts to the first 15,000 fans who enter tomorrow night's Game 5 at TD Banknorth Garden.

Doc Second in Coach of the Year Voting

The NBA announced today that New Orleans Hornets Coach Byron Scott won the Coach of the Year Award, garnering 458 points on 70 first place votes from a panel of 125 sportswriters in North America. Rivers ranked second (242 points) with 23 first-place votes.

Monday, April 28 - Celtics at Hawks, Game 4

Game 4 Wrap Up

Recap | Box Score | Highlights

More: Post-Game Presser

Sunday, April 27 - Game 5 Tickets

Tickets on Sale at 11 a.m.

Tickets for Hawks-Celtics Game 5 at the TD Banknorth Garden go on sale Sunday, April 27 at 11 am on Celtics.com and Ticketmaster.com, and by phone at 1-800-4NBA-TIX.

Saturday, April 26 - Celtics at Hawks, Game 3

Game Wrap Up

Recap | Box Score | Highlights

Photo Gallery

Game 3 Preview

Celtics.com Correspondent Couper Moorhead checks in with today's Game 3 preview.

Friday, April 25 - Practice

No Harm, No Foul?

Doc Rivers told reporters at Friday's practice that his team's been fouling too much in the first two games against the Hawks, and the Celtics will look to clean that up before Game 3 Saturday night in Atlanta.

"We're fouling too much right now," Rivers said. "When they are shooting free throws, there are no fastbreaks, there's no early offense. You're allowing them to set their defense."

The C's committed 54 fouls over the first two games against the Hawks.

More Video

Check the new CelticVision HD for practice interviews with Doc Rivers, Tony Allen and Kendrick Perkins from today's practice in Waltham.

Wednesday, April 23 - Hawks at Celtics, Game 2

Postgame Wrap Up

Recap | Box Score | Highlights

Physical Play Doesn't Bother Pierce | Team Defense Holds Down Hawks

Game 2 Photo Gallery

Live from Courtside

Live Scoreboard

96-77 Celtics, FINAL: The C's are up 2-0. No practice tomorrow, the team will just do some film work in Waltham. We'll have more from Friday's practice.

95-72 Celtics, 2:25/4th: Gino's also better...

Paul Pierce just checked out of the game with 14 points and a sore lower back. He high-fived fans as he went back to the dressing room for the rest of the night.

90-70 Celtics, 4:27/4th: KG just pulled back his jersey to point as his heart and then pound his chest after getting hammered underneath the basket. He plays to the crowd more than any Celtics player I can ever remember. Meanwhile, there's a deafening "Rondo's Better" chant going.

If you didn't read Mark Murphy's piece about Rondo learning from the Bibby family this week, you missed a good one. But right now, it looks like the student has become the teacher.

86-68 Celtics, 5:40/4th: The pace of this game has slowed considerably here in the fourth. The Hawks are trailing the Celtics 19-10 in fast break points, and they really haven't been able to get out and run tonight.

83-64 Celtics, 8:39/4th: James Posey was just assessed a flagrant one foul for cleanly blocking Josh Smith on the baseline.

80-64 Celtics, 9:46/4th: KG and Ray just checked in, but the crowd wants to know, "Where is Bib-by?"

76-58 Celtics, End of 3rd: Al Horford just scored back-to-back baskets in the paint, cutting the lead to 18. This kid is gonna be good. Al Jefferson may soon have company in the emerging young post players department. He's a dark horse for Rookie of the Year, but it won't happen. That didn't stop the Hawks from trying to get him some recognition.

71-52 Celtics, 3:19/3rd: The C's are pulling away, killing the Hawks on the glass and continuing to hold them under 40% shooting all game long.

62-46 Celtics, 8:32/3rd: Mike Bibby is still 1-for-6. I don't see anyone wearing bags over their heads.

Start of the Third: Paul Pierce is back on the floor to start the quarter.

52-42 Celtics, Halftime: We're not sure what Paul's status is beyond sore lower back. He played 11 minutes in the second half (about nine minutes after returning in the 2nd quarter) but we've yet to hear if he's expected to play in the second half.

50-37 Celtics, 3:01/2nd: Paul Pierce just picked up his third, and went back to the trainers room again.

34-24 Celtics, 9:03/2nd: A quick 10-4 engineered by Sam Cassell (eight points) run puts the Celtics back up by 10. They were up as many as 11 late in the first but the Hawks chipped away to keep it a four point game at the end of the first.

Cassell-Pierce-Posey-Powe-Brown is an interesting lineup that I don't remember seeing before, but it certainly gives you physical presence.

24-20 Celtics, End of 1st: Well that was a pretty physical quarter from the get-go. I really didn't see the full action of the foul on Pierce, despite it happening about 15 feet from me. That's what happens when you're trying to type and watch the game at the same time. Regardless, Paul is stretching his back by bending at the waist and hanging his arms down, and now he's checking in to start the 2nd quarter.

15-9 Celtics, 4:03/1st: It wasn't exactly Larry Bird shooting the tunnel, but Pierce just waltzed out of the tunnel by the Celtics bench. He's laying on the floor right now.

13-9 Celtics, 5:20/1st: The word on Paul Pierce is a lower back strain...He is expected to return.

5-7 Hawks, 8:03/1st: Touch foul on Joe Johnson is his second personal. He'll sit down.

Seated Courtside: Bruce Willis..."American Dream" Dusty Rhodes is also supposed to be in the house tonight...

5-3 Celtics, 9:45/1st: Hard foul from Joe Johnson on Pierce going to the hoop to start the game. We've officially got ourselves some bad blood. Pierce just went back to the locker room.

Bibby, meanwhile, got what he wanted. He's being booed on every touch of the ball.

Bibby, Perk Trade Barbs...

Back at the Garden tonight for Game 2 vs. the Hawks. The buzz is a little quieter tonight but pre-tipoff theatrics should work people up as they did Sunday.

Despite a laughing Josh Childress, the visitor's locker room was subdued, though Mike Bibby is proving to TNT that he knows drama, too.

After calling the Celtics' devoted "fair-weather fans", Bibby continued his Gilbert Arenas-lite commentary in a pregame interview, responding to Kendrick Perkins. Perkins said of Bibby yesterday, "I mean, coming off a 2-for-10 night shooting, he would say something like that."

Bibby wanted to know when Perk got this tough streak, saying that the center's stat line was probably worse than his Sunday night. Later, in the Celtics locker room, an apparently apathetic Perkins was non-plussed.

"I ain't got no comment for him. I'm still going to go to sleep tonight. It don't bother me either way. Whatever gets his confidence right," Perkins said. "I ain't worried about him. Obviously he's worried about what's going on over here."

Both head coaches addressed Bibby's earlier comments as a non-issue. Mike Woodson didn't even know what his point guard said until he woke up from his nap yesterday, and remarked that they can't undo it so the Hawks just have to go and play.

"I don't care. He doesn't play for us," Doc Rivers said, admitting that as much as he talks he's sure he let something slip during his playing days, which is why he never spoke before games.

- Couper Moorhead

Shootaround Update

P.R. Chief Jeff Twiss reports all 14 players went through this morning's workout in Waltham.

Tuesday, April 22 - Practice

KG Wins Defensive Player of the Year

WALTHAM - The NBA and Kia Motors were on hand after Tuesday's practice to present KG with the Defensive Player of the Year Award. You can listen to the press conference in today's Audio Archive, and we'll have the entire video this afternoon on Celtics.com.

• Press Release | Watch KG's Top 10 Defensive Plays

Monday, April 21 - Practice

Practice Report - Defensive Adjustments

The Celtics started their 1 p.m. practice early on Monday, and wrapped up around 2:30 p.m. And while they certainly didn't go too hard, they spent plenty of time watching video from Game 1 and worked on improving their transition defense.

"Our transition defense, even though in the stats it says seven fast break points, we know that isn't true," Celtics Coach Doc Rivers said. "We know they got some leak-outs and shots early in their offense because we didn't get back. We can do a better job with that. And our post defense wasn't very good. Our help defense can be better than it was last night."

Conventional NBA wisdom says that the playoffs are all about adjustments, and one would assume that when the Atlanta Hawks get blown out by 23 points, they'd be the team looking to adjust. But Rivers said his team has some tweaking to do as well. Presumably, his modifications will be more subtle.

"You make an adjustment if they're doing something offensively that bothers you or you didn't like. We didn't have to do a lot," Rivers said, noting that it's important not to out-think yourself when trying to determine just what to change.

The good news, Rivers said, is that practices during the playoffs are more efficient and easier to manage because you're focusing on just one team for days at a time. And had it been the regular season, the team might not have even staged a practice today, opting instead for rest and preserving their legs.

With playoffs on the brain, Rivers didn't get a chance to read NBA.com Monday morning, where he would have learned that James Posey finished eighth in the league's Sixth Man of the Year balloting. Reporters filled him in on the news that San Antonio's Manu Ginobili took home the award this year, and while Rivers said he couldn't argue with that choice, he did think Posey should have gotten stronger consideration.

"[Posey] doesn't do it in a flashy way, he does it in a role playing way. That's probably going to hurt all of our players in the awards. We are a role-playing basketball team and everybody buys in and they do it unselfishly," Rivers said.

"You have to see him [every night] to appreciate him. I thought he was fantastic last night," Rivers said. "I didn't even look at his point total last night because it didn't matter. I thought his help defense was almost the best he's done all year."

Celtics Practice Update

1:44 p.m.: You can't hear any basketballs bouncing here in Waltham, but we'll have the full update after practice wraps this afternoon.

Hawks Locker Room Quiet Before Shootaround

We swung by the Hawks' morning practice at the Garden today, and it was a somber mood as they laced up for practice. Many guys admitted to being a little overwhelmed by the playoffs for the first time; two guys missed the rim completely on first quarter jumpers. But they weathered the Celtics' initial storm.

Check the Audio Archive for sound from Mike Bibby, Joe Johnson, Al Horford and Coach Mike Woodson.

Game 2 Tickets Released!

A limited inventory of Game 2 tickets were released today. Get yours now!

Posey Eighth in Sixth Man Voting

San Antonio's Manu Ginobili won the NBA's Sixth Man Award today, and Celtics reserve James Posey, whose known for hugging it out during pre tip-off activities and taking charges in the paint, finished eighth in the voting.

Sunday, April 20 - Hawks at Celtics, Game 1

Live from Courtside

104-81 Celtics, FINAL: The Let's Go Bruins chant is underway...

96-75 Celtics, 2:59/4th: It's Gino Time...Big ups to Marina for organizing a Gino dance for the timeout. Bedazzled Gino T-shirts are a nice touch. We're still not sure about the light up outfits for starting lineups, though...

91-71 Celtics, 4:08/4th: Sam Cassell sits down with 10 points. Meanwhile, Horford has 20 and 10. Impressive, but the Hawks need more from their backcourt. Sure, Joe Johnson's got 19, but Bibby's five-point, one assist effort isn't enough if the Hawks are going to compete with the C's.

90-68 Celtics, 5:53/4th: Leon Powe just threw down a two-hander over Bibby, spilling himself on the floor in the process. Cassell and Garnett came flying in to pick him up off the floor, and Garnett began throwing punches at him on the ground to fire him up. That was the exclamation point on this one, and there's (hypothetically) still almost six minutes to play.

80-60 Celtics, 8:46/4th: Perkins is the only starter not in double-figures. But the Celtics are getting it done on the defensive end here in the second half as the Hawks are now hovering around 38% shooting for the game.

73-55 Celtics, End of 3rd: Ray Allen had 12 points in the quarter when Bibby was on him, and now Rondo's been draining midrange jumpers because the Hawks are daring him to beat them. Then he waved everyone off for a clearout drive against Horford and dropped a runner in the lane. He's got 15 points, six rebounds and nine assists through three quarters and is really taking control of this game.

The extra-long breaks at the quarters for national TV seem to leave teams with plenty of extra time for their huddles, to the point where players spend about 30 seconds on the sideline waiting for the horn to sound before the retake the floor.

60-44 Celtics, 7:47/3rd: Just as I finished telling Hawks.com's Micah Hart that the Celtics have been a fantastic third quarter team, the C's capped an 11-4 run with a Ray Allen three. Looks like the Hawks don't like the point guard matchup on their end, as they've now got Joe Johnson checking Rondo and Bibby guarding Allen.

49-40 Celtics, Halftime: Paul Pierce leads all scorers with 13 points here at the half, but it's a relatively quiet 13. This game feels closes than nine points, probably because since the Hawks made their 11-2 run late in the first, it's been basically a stalemate.

49-38 Celtics, 1:09/2nd: It looks pretty clear that the C's are intent on wiping Mike Bibby out on the pick and roll nearly every trip down the floor. Mr. Bibby isn't putting up much of a fight.

42-31 Celtics, 4:04/2nd: KG just picked up his third foul and took a seat. He's 4/10 from the field thus far with eight points and four boards.

29-21 Celtics/End of 1st: The Hawks survived the Celtics' initial shot and they used a late 11-2 run to keep things close here in the first quarter. The man most impressing me tonight? Rondo. I've already typed his name about six times, and he seems to be just as poised as he is for a regular season game.

As for Perkins, as I mentioned earlier, we interviewed him for Celtics.com before the game and mistakenly asked him if he was nervous before his first playoff experience, forgetting that he was on the 2004-05 team, and was selected by Pacers Coach Rick Carlisle to shoot free throws in place of Paul Pierce. He played 28 minutes total in that series, but admitted that for all intents and purposes, this is his first "real" playoff experience.

See, website reporters have playoff pressures, too...My bad!

26-13 Celtics, 2:53/1st: Rondo has a nice line so far, six points, three rebounds and five dimes.

24-10 Celtics, 4:46/1st: Rondo just scored on a post up move straight from the Kevin McHale playbook. Not bad for a six-footer. And Bibby got hit with a tech after the whistle.

14-4 Celtics, 6:54/1st: Perk just picked up his second foul. He's shaking his head on the way back to the bench.

8-2 Celtics, 8:43/1st: Pierce already hit a pair of threes...The Hawks have already missed the rim twice. Just a little nervous, perhaps?

Perk almost spit on me (unintentionally) after he got fouled and screamed at the crowd on the baseline, foaming at the mouth. That might be the scariest thing I've ever seen.

I asked him before the game if he's doing a better job of controlling his emotions on the court. He said he was trying but not happy about the fact that he was leading the NBA in techs early in the season. So yeah, he's trying to stay under control out there....

So much for that...

8:40 p.m. - It's game time...

Pregame Media Access

8:24 p.m. UPDATE! This arena is live...Let's Go Celtics has already started...The live look in at the locker room and Ray Allen's sprint down the hallway to lead the Celtics onto the floor for warmups had the building in a frenzy.

Aside from the extra media in the house tonight, so far it feels like a regular game in the Garden tonight. That said, we expect business to pick up in short order, as the game ops crew has a little something in store for us during opening lineups. Suffice it to say that they expect to blow the roof off the building tonight, if there's anything left from the aftermath of last night's Bruins game.

To that end, even Doc Rivers was watching hockey last night, and he was excited by what he saw.

Rivers did note that he couldn't really tell if the team is ready or not by their demeanor at shootaround.

"They seem ready, but you don't know. Clearly they're ready not to see us anymore as a coaching staff. I can guarantee that. You can tell when you yell out a play and they start yelling it back that they know the play."

One thing Doc is sure of is that he was more nervous as a player in the playoffs than he is as a coach.

"I think you're more nervous as a player. I was at least. As a coach, you're more focused on your practice time, and making sure you did your due diligence. Once the game starts, then you're just looking at matchups and praying for no foul trouble."

You can get his pregame audio here on the site in the Audio Archive.

6:55 p.m. - The locker rooms are about to open up. We'll be back with notes, quotes and more.

Saturday, April 19 - Practice

Rivers Likes Pressure; KG Back in Action

WALTHAM - Doc Rivers has called the pressure of expectations a privilege. He's said it all year long, and regularly contends that he much prefers the pressure to the alternative -- a bad team with little to no expectations.

To that end, many observers seem to think that there's no pressure on the Atlanta Hawks, huge underdogs as the #8 seed in the East against the best-in-the-NBA Boston Celtics. Rivers doesn't see it that way, and he made that clear at Saturday's practice when a reporter suggested that the Hawks have "nothing to lose."

"Yeah they do. They have the series to lose. I love when people say, 'they have nothing to lose.' That's a bunch of [expletive]," Rivers said. "They have just as much to lose as us. If they lose this series, they're going to really be disappointed. If we lose this series, we're going to be really disappointed."

His point shouldn't be taken lightly. While the public, media and Vegas oddsmakers may underestimate the Hawks, players know that their opponents are all NBA players and capable of beating you on any night. Along those lines, they're all extremely prideful overachievers who set high expectations for themselves. Underdogs or not, they feel a tremendous amount of pressure, and absolutely have something to lose.

"I understand what you're saying, but when I was an eight seed as a coach, and as a player, I felt the same pressure, I'm assuming, as the first," Rivers said. "You wanna win that series. It's good to have pressure. That's a privilege."

Garnett Back at Practice

After two days off, Garnett was back on the floor in Waltham today, and met the media to talk about the Celtics' matchup with the Hawks. Rivers says the Celtics really haven't changed anything, so it was easy for KG to jump back in and not miss a beat.

Garnett is pumped just to be back in the playoffs after sitting out the postseason since 2004. In fact, Garnett said he barely watched any of the postseason last year.

"I was totally numb to the playoffs last year. I was focused on making my basketball life better," Garnett said.

Mission accomplished. Garnett thinks this Celtics team is the best he's been on, exceeding the 2004 team he took to the Western Conference Finals along with Sam Cassell.

"It's about as deep a team as I've been on. Everybody's intense, everybody's excited. Just ready to go. Everybody's locked in and ready to go," Garnett said. "The biggest thing for me is to be poised and locked in. I'm excited to play tomorrow."

Friday, April 18 - Practice

Where's The Ticket?

Doc Rivers told reporters on Thursday that he expected Kevin Garnett to return to the practice court today, but the team went through a two-hour plus workout without him today at the Sports Authority Training Center at HealthPoint in Waltham.

Rivers, however, didn't seem to concerned, laughing off reporters' inquiries as to KG's whereabouts.

"He didn't come today. It's an attitude problem I think," Rivers deadpanned.

"It's just personal," Rivers said of Garnett's absence. "He'll be over here later this evening and we'll go through all of the stuff."

In contrast to yesterday's session, which was more video and scouting work, today's practice was noticeably louder and at times sounded pretty intense from the Hall of Fame room, where the media awaits the end of practice before the final 10-15 minutes are available for viewing from the balcony windows.

"The intensity was good. That's what it should be. Hell, if you can't get intensity now, you're probably not gonna get it and you've failed as a coach," Rivers said. "Not having Kevin does change some things, but it's been good."

Rivers joked that his "video guys" will be players for KG's workout; we're wondering if Assistant Video Coordinator Brian Adams knows why he's staying late tonight. Then again, he's already been working plenty of OT preparing the players for their matchups against the Hawks.

"The players want more video now. During the regular season, we want the video and that doesn't change. During the playoffs, they have made at least one tape for every single guy already," Rivers said.

Rivers has often called the NBA "the most overscouted league in the world", and today's technology allows coaches to do things like pull up every single one of Mike Bibby's pick-and-rolls from the top of the key where he pulled up and hit a jumper in a matter of a few clicks and a few seconds. It's a drastic change from Rivers' playing days, where reel-to-reel projectors showed tapes of varying qualities.

"There's no reason for you to not know everything they do," Rivers said. "But that still doesn't mean they don't put a wrinkle in it, and that still doesn't mean you stop it. Some of the greatest coaches in the world will say, 'We don't care if you know what we do, we're still gonna do it.'"

So, are the Celtics so good that it doesn't matter whether their opponents know what's coming or not?

"We do what we do, that's what we've said all year. What we can't get into is trying to do what we don't do. I think in some of our loses this year, that actually happened, where a game was close and four or five guys said, 'I'm gonna win it for you.' I'm sure we're going to face that in some point of the playoffs. We call it 'hero ball'. That's what gets you in trouble."

Ray Allen thinks that there was a time early in the season when opponents didn't know how to handle the Celtics, but they slowly figured them out, forcing the team to adapt.

"I think it was early when Toronto beat us, and Sam Mitchell made the declaration, I know how to beat the Celtics. When a new team comes out, you try to figure them out," Allen said. "You may lose to them a couple of times because you're making an adjustment. When teams adjusted to us, we learned to push it to the next option. The regular season is a great test, and in the playoffs it's intensified. We'll just continue to build on what we've been doing."

KG Not At Practice

11:56 a.m: Practice is underway, and Kevin Garnett is not with the team again today. We'll have more when practice wraps later this afternoon.

Thursday, April 17 - Practice

Doc Meets the Media

Doc Rivers held a 90-minute practice at HealthPoint on Thursday, with the team watching film and going over some of Atlanta's tendencies in preparation for their first round series with the Hawks that begins on Sunday night at the TD Banknorth Garden.

The team practiced without Kevin Garnett, who was tending to family matters today but is expected back on the practice court tomorrow.

"He should be here tomorrow for sure," Rivers said. "Practice was more peaceful. It was quiet. It was actually kind of strange."

Coming the day after a game, Rivers intentionally kept the intensity of today's workout low, but with Garnett back in the house on Friday, you can expect it to ratchet back up a notch on Friday.

"Today was very light. Tomorrow will probably be the heaviest of the practices," Rivers said, noting that Saturday's practice would be light to make sure the guys are rested for Sunday night's game.

As for the game itself, the word from Atlanta is that the Hawks are talking about how the Celtics are a good matchup for them. But Rivers won't be looking to make any Post Ups of his own on any bulletin boards. He said that while it was an effective motivational tool back in his day, in this age of blogs and podcasts, the players already know before he could tell them anyway.

"You would see something in the paper and you would actually put it on the bulletin board," Rivers said. "Now you don't have to worry about it. Everybody will tell them."

Check the Audio Archive for interviews with Ray Allen and Sam Cassell.

First Round Schedule Released

The Celtics will tip off the 2008 NBA Playoffs Sunday, April 20 at 8:30 p.m. at the TD Banknorth Garden, and will play Game 2 on Wednesday, April 23 at 8:00 p.m.

• First Round Playoffs Schedule

Playoffs Practice

The Celtics will practice at noon at the Sports Authority Training Center in Waltham. Celtics.com will have a full update later this afternoon with notes, quotes and more from today's session.