Shocking Hawks defying the odds
ATLANTA - The Celtics can take comfort in the following: They won't have to look at Zaza Pachulia-as-Rocky video or hear the phrase "shock the world" every time they leave their downtown hotel, and they can say goodbye to what has been their charnel house in this first round.
Yes, they are done with Atlanta.
But Atlanta is not done with them.
In this series that won't end, the Hawks, once again, stepped up and made the plays down the stretch, forcing a Game 7 tomorrow afternoon with a 103-100 victory over the erstwhile invincible Celtics. The Hawks were the poised, confident, hustling, opportunistic team in the fourth quarter. They were the ones who converted on 17 consecutive possessions in the third and fourth quarters, rebounding from a double-digit deficit in the first half. They were the ones who got to the line (or, as Doc Rivers saw it, got the breaks) and they did it the way the Celtics used to do it - by persevering and making the plays.
They did it with two of their starters in foul trouble and a third, Joe Johnson, hounded and "held" to 15 points, but nonetheless breaking free to make arguably the biggest shot of the game. They did it with Pachulia coming to the rescue in the first half, scoring as many points as Kevin Garnett - and outrebounding him, 4-1.
It's still hard to believe. Or even conceive. The 37-win Atlanta Hawks have beaten the 66-win Celtics three times in a week when they couldn't beat them at all in three tries all season. Someone's season is going to end tomorrow.
"It's definitely a dream," said Josh Smith, the Hawks' frequent-flying forward who, like Al Horford, was in foul trouble for long parts of the evening. "I was watching ESPN today and everyone was saying that we would get knocked out. But we keep proving guys wrong over and over again."
They certainly have proven it in this series. They've been hideous in three games in Boston and, just when you figured the red and black carriage would turn into a pumpkin, they've been resilient, resourceful, and unrelenting in winning all three games at Philips Arena. Last night, they could not ride Johnson as they had in Game 4, so they went to relay mode. All five starters were in double figures, as was the sixth man, Josh Childress. Pachulia, whose first-half contributions cannot be understated, had 9 points.
"I thought Zaza and Josh Childress played huge for us," Atlanta coach Mike Woodson said. "I thought [Pachulia] did an excellent job on Garnett."
Atlanta trailed entering the fourth quarter - again. The Hawks got the lead and lost it. But they were rewarded for their aggression and persistence with 47 free throws, courtesy of the firm of Delaney, Crawford, and Wunderlich. The Celtics attempted 25, a deficit that Rivers pointed to time and again as the No. 1 reason the Celtics' season will be on the line tomorrow instead of the team readying for a visit from LeBron and the lads. In the fourth quarter, the differential was an astonishing 15-2.
"And they got every loose ball," Rivers said. The coach said the Celtics call a loose ball situation a "50-50" in that it's up for grabs, anyone can get it. He estimated the 50-50 was a 90-10 in Atlanta's favor last night. "That's athleticism," he said.
The Celtics did what they did in Game 5 and double-teamed Johnson pretty much throughout. He had one basket in the first half, basically the only play he wasn't double-teamed. He made only one shot in the fourth quarter, but it was a certifiable biggie that raised roofs from Macon to Alpharetta. With the shot clock winding down and the Hawks nursing a 97-95 lead, Johnson got James Posey to bite on an up fake and found himself with some rare room to take a 3-pointer. It went in, the only Atlanta 3-pointer of the game. The lead was now 5 points and the Hawks had enough of a cushion to take it home.
"I got a good look," he said. "I felt it was going in when it left my hand."
The Hawks' defense can also take a well-deserved bow, although the Celtics again said they had excellent looks and didn't make the shot. Boston shot 7 for 22 in the fourth quarter and scored only 18 points. Ray Allen missed 7 of 8 shots in the period, including all four of his 3-point attempts. On the final play, the Hawks blanketed the Celtics' long-range shooters, leaving Rajon Rondo to throw up a 30-foot no-hoper as time expired. Rondo looked utterly clueless on the play.
Confetti soon was released from the rafters and the Hawks' players huddled, in equal parts relief and, if they were honest, disbelief. No one else gave them a chance to take it this far. The odds are still stacked against them, but, you might ask, what were the odds it would even get as far as it has?
Peter May can be reached at pmay@globe.com.
