Hawks-Celtics Preview

By JIMMY GOLEN
Posted May 09 2012 3:35PM

BOSTON (AP) John Havlicek against the 76ers.

Larry Bird against the Pistons.

When Rajon Rondo intercepted a Hawks pass in the final seconds of Game 5, he had a chance to add to the list of memorable Celtics playoff steals.

Then he fumbled it away.

"I hate that the game ended the way that it ended," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said after Atlanta held on for an 87-86 victory in Game 5 of their first-round playoff series to force a sixth game in Boston on Thursday night. "I thought that Rondo willed us back into the game. He really did."

Rondo already had 13 points and 12 assists when he grabbed his fifth steal of the game, intercepting an inbounds pass from Al Horford to Josh Smith with 10.9 seconds left and Atlanta leading by one. Boston had no timeouts left, so Rondo moved up the court along the left side, where Horford trapped him.

Kevin Garnett stepped back to receive the pass, but Rondo lost control of the ball and Smith tipped it away as the buzzer sounded.

"My heart was racing a hundred miles an hour on the last sequence," Hawks coach Larry Drew said. "We didn't make a smart play inbounding the ball, but I'm glad (Smith) had the presence of mind on the last play to step up on Rondo when he came flying up the court."

The Celtics have a record 17 NBA titles and a lot of history over the years, and steals are prominent among their most memorable plays. Johnny Most's call of "Havlicek stole the ball!" in the 1965 Eastern Conference finals against Philadelphia is one of the most famous in sports history, and Bird's steal against Isiah Thomas to beat Detroit during the 1987 playoffs was just as impressive.

Rondo's steal had the potential to be remembered just as fondly, especially after he took control of the game during a 10-0 run that cut as 12-point deficit to a single basket at the end of the third quarter.

Instead, it all went for naught.

"I cornered myself," Rondo said. "Give Al credit. I just didn't come up with the shot."

Although Rondo's outside shooting has always been the weakest part of his game - he was 6-for-17 from the floor on Tuesday - he made 8 of 11 shots in Game 4 and Horford considered him dangerous.

"I didn't want to lose the series in that way, with him hitting a jumper over me or something like that," Horford said. "So you're fighting for your life out there. My thing was to force him to pass the ball, to bottle him up the best I could and then Josh made a great deflection."

Rivers, a former point guard himself, said he thought Rondo should have gone up the middle of the court instead of the sideline. And he wanted Rondo to drive toward the hoop, instead of setting up on the perimeter.

"I was hoping he would attack the basket, but he lost control of the ball and that blew up any chance that we had," Rivers said. "We didn't capitalize on the situation."

The Celtics will have another chance on Thursday night, and this time they can close the Hawks out in Boston. Game 7 would be in Atlanta on Saturday, if necessary, but the Celtics would surely like to finish it up early to rest their aging stars.

Rivers and Drew both gave their teams the day off on Wednesday to rest.

After missing almost three weeks with bone spurs in his ankle Ray Allen returned for Game 3 and has avoided any setbacks. Paul Pierce tweaked his left knee in Game 4, but he said it wasn't bothering him much on Tuesday.

The Hawks, meanwhile, are getting healthier.

Horford played in Game 4 - his first action since January - and was back in the starting lineup for the fifth game, scoring 19 points with 11 rebounds. Smith, whose sore knee knocked him out of Game 3, had 13 points and 16 rebounds.

"I know Josh is still having a little discomfort in his knee but he is playing through the pain," Drew said. "I think everybody else is fine."

Celtics beat Hawks 83-80 to advance in East

By JIMMY GOLEN
Posted May 11 2012 3:55AM

BOSTON (AP) Doc Rivers knew there would be no rest for the aging Boston Celtics.

The only question was whether they would be in Atlanta playing Game 7 of the first round or at home opening the Eastern Conference semifinals against Philadelphia.

"At least we don't have to travel," Rivers said Thursday night after the Celtics beat the Hawks 83-80 to win the series in six games. "It's a short turnaround, but I'd rather be going to Game 1 here than Game 7 in Atlanta."

The Celtics will open the Eastern Conference semifinals on Saturday in Boston against the 76ers, who eliminated East No. 1 seed Chicago in six games with a 79-78 victory earlier Thursday. The Sixers were 2-1 against Boston this season, including a 32-point victory in Philadelphia on March 7.

"We've got a bunch of gazelles coming in here," Rivers said. "They only beat us by 1,000 points in two of our three games."

Kevin Garnett scored 28 points with 14 rebounds, hitting the go-ahead basket with 31 seconds left to help the Celtics eliminate the Hawks. Afterward, Garnett called out Hawks co-owner Michael Gearon Jr., who was quoted by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution as saying: "They are old. I know what happens when you play basketball, old guys foul. Garnett is the dirtiest guy in the league."

Garnett responded on the court, topping his regular-season high of 25 points and adding five blocks and three steals.

Then he responded off it.

"Thank you to their owner for giving me some extra gas tonight," Garnett said. "My only advice to him is next time he opens his mouth to know what he's talking about with X's and O's vs. checkbooks and bottom lines."

Paul Pierce had 18 points despite playing with a sprained medial collateral ligament in his left knee, and Rajon Rondo had 14 points and eight assists.

Josh Smith had 19 points and nine rebounds for Atlanta, which failed to advance in the playoffs for the first time in four years. Joe Johnson had 17 points, Marvin Williams added 16 and eight rebounds, and Al Horford had 15 points and nine rebounds.

But Horford missed the first of two foul shots with 2.3 seconds left after he was tackled by Marquis Daniels to avoid an easy dunk that would have tied the game. After he made the second, the Celtics got the ball to Pierce, who was fouled and made both free throws.

Boston has won at least one playoff series every year since the new Big 3 was assembled in the summer of 2007.

"The one thing about the Celtics is those guys know how to win," Williams said. "After winning (Game 5) down in Atlanta with our backs against the wall, we knew it was going to be tough coming up here. I thought we did a really good job putting ourselves in position to win down the stretch."

The Boston crowd to burst into a cheer near the end of the third quarter when the final play of the Sixers-Bulls game was shown on the scoreboard. Even the Celtics players were checking it out. Instead of having to face Chicago on the road - even without injured star Derrick Rose - Boston will have home-court advantage against eighth-seeded Philadelphia.

The Hawks went 5 minutes without scoring early in the fourth quarter as the Celtics turned a two-point game into a 74-65 lead. But Atlanta scored 10 of the next 12 points, with Horford scoring the last three baskets, making it a one-point game on an alley-oop pass from Smith with 3:52 left.

Smith faked at the top of the key and went right down the lane for a dunk that gave Atlanta its first lead of the second half, 77-76. Horford drove to the basket to give the Hawks a three-point lead.

Atlanta still led 79-78 when Garnett made a turnaround jumper in the lane over Smith to put Boston ahead by one. Smith missed a long rainbow jumper and Ray Allen got the rebound with 10 seconds left, but he made only one of two free throws.

Johnson drove to the basket but Pierce blocked his shot and Garnett tipped it out of bounds with 3.1 seconds left. The Hawks got the ball to Horford in the lane but as he went up for the dunk or layup, Daniels, who played just one minute in the game, wrapped him up and kept him from scoring.

The first foul shot went off the rim, costing Atlanta a chance to tie.

Notes: Pierce injured the knee during Sunday morning's shootaround and hurt it again when he tried to get around a screen set by Smith during Game 4 that night. ... Rivers became just the third coach in Celtics' history to record 50 postseason victories, joining Red Auerbach (90) and K.C. Jones (65). New England Patriots defensive lineman Vince Wilfork was at the game. ... The Hawks lost to the Celtics in the first round of the 2008 playoffs, a series that went seven games. Boston went on to win its NBA-record 17th championship. ... Allen, the NBA's all-time 3-point leader, was 1 for 7 from beyond the arc. ... The Hawks are 1-11 in playoff series against Boston. They last beat the Celtics as the St. Louis Hawks to win the 1958 NBA title. ... Rondo had three assists and two baskets during a 16-0 run in the second quarter. Pierce, who came back off the bench in the middle of the run, had five points and a steal over the span of 4 minutes.

Notebook: Celtics 83, Hawks 80

Posted Friday May 11, 2012 12:48AM

By Brian Robb, for NBA.com

THE FACTS: Kevin Garnett turned back the clock with a season-high 28 points and 14 rebounds, allowing the Boston Celtics to hold off a furious comeback by the Atlanta Hawks and escape with an 83-80 win. With the victory, Boston takes the series 4-2 over Atlanta and advances into a second round matchup against the Philadelphia 76ers. Paul Pierce added 18 points for Boston despite playing on a sprained left MCL, and each team fought valiantly despite a host of injuries on both sides in the scrappy affair. It was Garnett however who saved the day for Boston hitting the go-ahead jumper that gave Boston the lead for good with 30.4 seconds remaining. Al Horford (17 points) had a chance to tie the game for Atlanta after being fouled following an in-bounds play with three seconds remaining, but the center missed one of his free throws, squandering Atlanta's final opportunity to save their season.

QUOTABLE: "First off I want to say thank you to the [Atlanta] owner for giving me some extra gas tonight. My only advice to him is next time he opens his mouth, actually know what he's talking about -- Xs and Os versus checkbooks and bottom lines."
-- Garnett's response to comments from Atlanta's co-owner Michael Gearon Jr. who labeled him as "the dirtiest player in the game" on Thursday in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

THE STAT: Boston pulled out the victory despite shooting just 5-of-16 (31.3 percent) in the fourth quarter. Instead, Boston won with their defense late in the contest, limiting Atlanta to 0 field goals and just one point over the final 2:23 of the game.

TURNING POINT: The Celtics looked to be in trouble in the final minute after Garnett missed a jumper with Boston trailing 80-79 and only 42 seconds remaining in regulation. Late-season addition Ryan Hollins was able to corral a crucial offensive rebound on the possession, enabling Boston to extend the possession and take the lead.

QUOTABLE II: "We're playing like this is it. This could be out last chance together, so we're going to give it one last run and then see what happens."
-- Pierce.

HOT: Horford - Outside of his miss from the free throw line in the closing seconds, Atlanta's center was on fire in the fourth quarter, scoring 11 of Atlanta's 17 points in the frame on 5-of-6 shooting.

NOT: Josh Smith - The power forward has been limited by a sore left knee since Game 2 and he showed the effects of it during the second half tonight. Smith missed seven of his final eight shot attempts from the field, including a crucial miss in the final minute of the game. He finished with a team-high 18 points.

QUOTABLE III: "I just put it on me."
-- Horford on his missed free throw with three seconds remaining that could have tied game.

FANTASY SPOTLIGHT: Garnett -- The power forward delivered not only a magical performance on the offensive end with 28 points, but also shined with his defense, finishing with a season-high five blocks and three steals in addition to tying a season-high with 14 rebounds.

INSIDE THE ARENA: Patriots defensive lineman Vince Wilfork watched the game with his wife at courtside and got a rousing ovation from the Boston crowd.

ROOKIE WATCH: Boston's rokie center Greg Stiemsma continues to lose playing time to Hollins, who has played tremendous defense throughout the series. Stiemsma saw five minutes of action in he first quarter and finished with two rebounds and an assist.

NOTABLE: Rajon Rondo had his streak of consecutive games with double-digit assists snapped at 27. The All-Star finished with 14 points and eight assists. Boston grabbed 11 offensive rebounds, their highest total of the postseason. Atlanta was whistled for three technical fouls. Horford played 46 minutes and had a game-high seven turnovers. Boston's bench outscored Atlanta's 11-9. The Hawks had 10 of their 15 turnovers in the first half. The Celtics went on a 16-0 run in the middle of the second quarter, giving them a nine-point lead. Doc Rivers now has 50 postseason victories with Boston. Jeff Teague had a disappointing five points, nine below his series average.

UP NEXT: Game 1 of Eastern Conference Semifinals: Philadelphia @ Boston on Saturday May 11th

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

• Hawks: Dampier, Smith, Teague
• Celtics: --

• Lead Changes: 11
• Times Tied: 2

• Arena: TD Garden, Boston, MA
• Officials: #9 Derrick Stafford, #42 Eric Lewis, #55 Bill Kennedy
• Attendance: 18624
• Duration: 2:30