Hawks-Celtics Preview

By JIMMY GOLEN
Posted May 05 2012 3:51PM

BOSTON (AP) The Atlanta Hawks seemed to have found the answer to their injury woes: a rejuvenated Tracy McGrady, who was putting together a playoff game reminiscent of his youth.

But then McGrady rolled his right ankle, crumpled to the ground and limped off the court. Although he returned in the second half, he did not make another basket and the Celtics held on to beat the depleted Hawks 90-84 in overtime Friday night to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

"Tracy played well for us prior to him turning his ankle," Hawks coach Larry Drew said. "We've been a team that has had adversity throughout the season, like everybody else, and it says a lot about your team when they can step up in the playoffs short-handed and still put themselves in a position to win the game. We certainly had our opportunity. We just fell short."

The Hawks were already without top centers Al Horford and Zaza Pachulia when forward Josh Smith went out late in Game 2 with a strained tendon in his left knee. Still, Atlanta seemed to cobble together an effective lineup, employing such little-used reserves as Erick Dampier and Jason Collins while giving more minutes to McGrady.

"I knew I would have to get some production from other players," Drew said. "I thought Erick Dampier came in and gave us some big minutes. He's a guy that hasn't been playing much at all for us. This is just a situation that I really needed another big body and he came in and gave us some really good minutes."

McGrady is a seven-time All-Star and two-time NBA scoring champion who averaged more than 20 points in eight straight seasons before injuries curtailed his production. He managed just 65 games total over two seasons before bouncing back with 72 last year and then 52 - all of them off the bench - in this lockout-shortened, 66-game season.

Before the series-opener against Boston, he hadn't appeared in the playoffs since 2008, scoring 40 for Houston in a first-round series against Utah. But he had 10 points and four rebounds in the second quarter alone before going up for a 3-pointer and coming down on Rajon Rondo's heel late in the half.

McGrady went to the floor, tried to get up then fell back down. He was helped off the court, but he returned for the second-half warmups and re-entered the game soon after.

"It's sore," he said after the game. "Rondo was closing out on me, he just happened to come right up under me and I landed on his foot. It was a little extended, but I'm going to get some treatment and I will be ready to go for Sunday."

McGrady had not played more than 30 minutes all season, but even with the injury he totaled 40:46, including overtime. He was 0-for-5 shooting in the second half and overtime, making just a pair of foul shots.

"He was playing big in that first half until he got hurt," Hawks forward Joe Johnson said. "In the second half, he just gutted out, he gave us what he had and that's all you can ask from him."

As the Hawks seem to be losing more and more players, the Celtics are getting theirs back.

Rondo came back after serving a one-game suspension for bumping a referee and had his seventh career playoff triple-double with 17 points, 14 rebounds and 12 assists. And Ray Allen returned for Game 3 on Friday night, his first appearance since April 10.

"Being back on the floor I felt alive," Allen said. "I felt like I was back in my own skin and it was a great feeling."

Allen received a standing ovation when he checked into the game in the first quarter, and he quickly made a short jumper. He finished with 13 points in 38 minutes, picking up more playing time after Avery Bradley injured his shoulder in the third quarter.

"Just having him out there really picked us up because we haven't seen Ray in a jersey in so long," Celtics forward Paul Pierce said. "Just having him out there, you heard the reaction from the crowd when he checked into the game. Stuff like that brings so much energy to the ball club, to have a guy that's so vital come out there and give us a big lift. It's huge having him out there, especially tonight with Avery going down."

Celtics coach Doc Rivers said Bradley has had the problem all year, but usually they are able to snap it back into place. Rivers gave his team the day off Saturday, even though it was their only chance to practice for Game 4 on Sunday night.

"They're exhausted. ... That's unusual for us in the playoffs to take a day off, but they need one," he said. "I was really worried going in the overtime, just looking at Paul, Kevin, and Rondo. They didn't look that fresh. And honestly I looked at the other team; they looked pretty bad, too. So that made me feel a little bit better."

Pierce helps Celtics top Hawks for 3-1 series lead

By JIMMY GOLEN
Posted May 06 2012 11:14PM

BOSTON (AP) By the time Avery Bradley, who is recovering from a dislocated shoulder, sank a free throw to give the Boston Celtics a 37-point lead early in the third quarter, Paul Pierce was done for the night, riding a stationary bicycle under the stands and trying to keep his sore left knee from stiffening up.

Ray Allen went to the bench soon after to rest his ailing right ankle. He grabbed a seat near Kevin Garnett, who is about to turn 36 and played 42 minutes in the previous game - surpassing 50,000 total minutes in the regular season and playoffs in his 17-year NBA career.

"We had a lot of things going on on our bench today with bodies," coach Doc Rivers said on Sunday night after the Celtics coasted to a 101-79 victory over the Atlanta Hawks to take a 3-1 lead in their best-of-seven playoff series. "The whole game I kept looking down there (to see if) there were enough guys to put in the game."

Pierce scored 24 points in 18 minutes before heading to the stationary bicycle in the tunnel leading to the locker room, getting some much-needed rest after the Celtics scored 16 of the first 18 points in the second half.

Boston can close out the Hawks with a victory in Game 5 on Tuesday night in Atlanta. Game 6 would be in Boston in Thursday, if necessary.

"Their team set the tone from the jump ball and we weren't able to recover," said Al Horford, who played for the first time in almost four months and scored 12 points. "It's disappointing for us to lose this way, but the good thing is we're going back home. It's 3-1 and I'm sure a lot of people are writing us off already. But we feel pretty good about going back home."

Horford returned from a torn pectoral muscle that has kept him out since Jan. 11, but he wasn't available in the fourth quarter. Josh Smith returned after missing Friday's game and had 15 points and 13 rebounds for Atlanta. Tracy McGrady, a key contributor in the first half of Game 3 before turning his ankle, played just nine minutes and scored two points.

"We were beaten in every phase of the game," Hawks coach Larry Drew said. "We just didn't respond very well. I haven't seen that type of performance in our team in quite some time."

Two nights after Rajon Rondo had a triple-double to help turn back the Hawks in overtime, he may have been even better, scoring 20 points with 16 assists. The point guard shot 8 for 11 from the floor, sinking a pair of 3-pointers to tie a career high.

Perhaps the biggest boost of all for the aging and injured Boston lineup: Rondo and Brandon Bass were the only Celtics to play more than 30 minutes.

"That time on the bench was good time," said Allen, who missed more than three weeks with bone spurs before returning for 37 minutes in Game 3. "It was good we played the way we did early. We've got to manage our bodies."

Pierce limped off the court favoring his left knee midway through the second quarter, but he returned for the start of the third. He was on the court as Boston went on a 16-2 run to start the second half and open an 80-37 lead with 8:13 left in the third quarter.

That was enough to earn Pierce, who played 47 minutes on Friday and tweaked his knee during Sunday's shootaround, some much-needed rest. Bradley, who dislocated his shoulder in Game 3, played just 19 minutes Sunday and Allen sat down after scoring 12 points and pulling down five rebounds in 19 minutes in Game 4.

"We overplayed them the last game, gave them the day off and they came out with this effort," Rivers said. "I think over the long run ... if you can get two or three of these games, it has to help."

The teams went to the locker rooms at the half with Boston holding a 63-41 lead. But during the break, the officials reviewed a jumper by Allen and changed it from a 2-pointer to a 3-pointer. Rondo hit a 3-pointer to open the third quarter, giving Boston a 26-point lead, then Bass made a jumper and Pierce hit a 3 to make it 72-41.

By the time the Hawks recovered, Boston led 80-43 and Rivers was emptying his bench. Pierce tried to keep his legs moving in case he was needed again.

He wasn't.

Now he's hoping for a long break if the Celtics can eliminate the Hawks in five games.

"The NBA is a weird league, and one game could give a team confidence," said Pierce, who tripped over a teammate's foot in the shootaround and aggravated the injury when he came off a screen in the game. "We hope that we can take them and advance in the series in the next game."

The Hawks weren't able to get any closer than 22 points before Rondo and Allen hit back-to-back 3-pointers, then Rondo made a behind-the-back fake to clear out the lane for an easy layup as Boston closed out the third quarter with a 90-63 lead.

Atlanta did cut it to 20 points in garbage time before Keyon Dooling made a 3-pointer with just under 2 minutes to play.

Notes: Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney attended the game with his wife, Ann. They left their mid-court seats with about 6 minutes left and Boston leading 98-71. ... The Celtics shot 64 percent in the first half. ... Rondo was 7 for 22 on Friday, when he had his seventh career playoff triple-double.

Notebook: Celtics 101, Hawks 79

Posted Sunday May 6, 2012 11:07PM

By Brian Robb, for NBA.com

THE FACTS: The Boston Celtics broke out of their offensive slump behind 24 points from Paul Pierce as they blew out the Atlanta Hawks 101-79 in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference first round series. The victory gives the Celts' a commanding 3-1 series lead over Atlanta in the best-of-seven affair.

Rajon Rondo (20 points, 16 assists) dazzled the Garden crowd by setting the tone for the scorching Celtics' offense that put up 90 points over the first three quarters. The offensive outburst resulted in the hosts leading by as many as 37 points in the second half, spoiling the returns of Josh Smith (15 points, 13 rebounds) and Al Horford (12 points, five rebounds) to the Atlanta lineup. After shooting just 40.6 percent from the field over the first three games of the series, Boston hit a sensational 63.6 percent of their shots (28-of-44) in the first half, enabling them to build a 24-point lead, helping them to cruise to the easy win.

QUOTABLE: "When I left shootaround [this morning], I probably thought he wasn't going to play. The fact that he could come in and play, and then play the way he played was great. He was just on fire."
-- Celtics coach Doc Rivers on Pierce overcoming a left knee injury suffered Sunday morning

THE STAT: Boston scored 67 of their 101 points on the night from outside the paint on 28-of-56 shooting.

TURNING POINT: Boston led comfortably for the majority of the second half, but the Hawks put the TD Garden crowd on edge with a 13-0 run towards the end of third quarter, cutting the C's lead to 21 for the time being. Boston's offense crushed the threat and sprung back to life however, thanks to a pair of 3-pointers which jumpstarted an 8-0 outburst for the hosts, and ended any hopes of a historic Atlanta comeback.

QUOTABLE II: "We were beaten in every phase of the game. We did not respond very well to the pressure, to the aggressiveness that they were playing with. I haven't seen that type of performance in our team in quite some time."
-- Hawks coach Larry Drew

HOT: Pierce -- Boston's captain shook off a left knee injury suffered in Sunday's shootaround to put forth one of the most efficient performances of his career. Pierce made five of his final six shots of the night, and hit a tremendous 10-of-13 attempts overall, including four-of-six from downtown. With 24 points over 18 minutes, the small forward averaged 1.33 points each minute he was in the game.

NOT: Jeff Teague -- After averaging 18.7 points over the first three games of the series, the third-year guard came back down to earth, managing just seven points on 3-of-9 shooting over 27 minutes.

QUOTABLE III: "You don't want to give a team any confidence. You've got to go down to Atlanta with the right mindset. You don't want to bring it back to Boston because anything could happen."
-- Pierce on Celts' attitude heading into Game 5

QUOTABLE IV: "I felt okay, just excited to be back. It's disappointing for us to come out and lose this way, but the good thing is that we're going back home. It's 3-1 and I'm sure a lot of people are probably writing us off already. We feel pretty good about going back home."
-- Horford, on his return from injury

INSIDE THE ARENA: Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney cheered on the Celtics from mid-court seats. Bruins winger Milan Lucic attended the game as well at courtside.

GOOD MOVE: Rivers went deeper into his bench Sunday night, giving minutes to Keyon Dooling and Marquis Daniels in the first half after injuries and heavy minutes had affected the starters over the past few games. The decision paid dividends, as the hosts extended their second quarter lead with the second unit on the floor, allowing extra rest for the overworked starting five.

NOTABLE: Smith returned to action after missing Game 3 of the series with a sprained left knee. Despite finishing with a double-double, Smith looked to be in pain on the floor and finished with a team-high six turnovers. ... Horford made an unexpected return to action after missing the last three-plus months with a torn pectoral muscle suffered January 11th against Indiana. "He said he did feel pretty good, and I thoughts he did a good job tonight," Drew said of Horford postgame. ... Pierce told reporters he suffered the knee injury tripping over a teammate tonight, and aggravated the injury in the third quarter tonight. He remains day-to-day. ... Mickael Pietrus sat out the majority of the second half with a hamstring injury. ... Avery Bradley played through a sore left shoulder and finished with seven points. ... Atlanta had eight turnovers in the first quarter. ... After starting the series hitting just 18.4 percent of their 3-point attempts, Boston went 11-of-26 from beyond the arc in Game 4. ... Tracy McGrady played just nine minutes after suffering a sprained ankle in Game 3. He finished with two points.

UP NEXT: Game 5 Boston @ Atlanta will be Tuesday night at 8 p.m. on TNT.

• Hawks: Pachulia, Stackhouse
• Celtics: Johnson, Williams

• Hawks: --
• Celtics: --

• Lead Changes: 1
• Times Tied: 3

• Arena: TD Garden, Boston, MA
• Officials: #25 Tony Brothers, #17 Joe Crawford, #26 Pat Fraher
• Attendance: 18624
• Duration: 2:17