Attempting to home in on an explanation
None of this makes any sense. Not if you go by the 82-game regular season, which now is looking more and more irrelevant.
Sure, the Celtics have been pushed to Game 7s before by inferior opponents - the 1984 Knicks come to mind - but never by an opponent that played so horribly in the regular season as Atlanta did. How is it that the only seven-game series in the first round is between the playoff team with the worst record and the one with the best record?
This has turned out to be the worst-case scenario for the Celtics, one no one saw coming. And I mean no one. But looking back on it now, you can perhaps see why this thing still isn't over, although it's still a stretch to think it would go this far. The Hawks present the absolute worst possible stylistic matchup for the Celtics - a style, by the way, that no future (they hope) conference opponent possesses. Not Cleveland. Not Detroit.
The Hawks are still in this thing because they have used their athleticism, of which they have plenty and the Celtics have little, to make the hustle plays, the aggression plays, the get-the-loose-ball plays, and the plays that get rewarded by the officials. At least they have made them in Atlanta.
And in that respect, they are the epitome of a young, frisky, devil-may-care NBA team in that they are freewheeling and comfortable at home - and now they have real fans to support them - and are prone to engine block when they are not.
The Celtics can only hope that dual personality extends for one more game.
It's why Celtics fans felt so smug and satisfied after Games 1, 2, and 5. The Hawks' athletic legs never got a chance to run and they looked clueless. And why those same fans were calling for Doc Rivers's scalp after Games 3, 4, and 6 (more on that later).
Look at the numbers from the three games at Philips Arena. In those three, the Hawks attempted an average of almost 36 free throws - to the Celtics' nearly 23. (Overall, it's 204-133 in the six games.) You can lament the difference as being a case of bad refereeing and, at times, you'd be right. But I don't think the stats lie in this case. And the Hawks have been a terrific free throw-shooting team throughout.
Getting to the line means - duh - the other guy is committing fouls. That, too, is a part of Atlanta's overall strategy and, again, in Philips Arena, it has worked.
In Game 6, for instance, the Hawks were in the bonus for the final 6:49 of the fourth quarter in a tightly contested game. When they went on their 10-0 run to take the lead for good, only 4 of those 10 points came on field goals. (They didn't need to be in the bonus in the third quarter because they were in the process of converting on 17 consecutive possessions against what was the league's best defensive team in the regular season.)
The eternal question for Hawks fans is why their team can't show a semblance of their Atlanta cachet when they play in Boston. It's like the Stepford Hawks have taken over for the road games - and that is a carryover from the regular season. Asked why his team had such trouble winning on the road, Mike Woodson said, "We're young." Simplistic, perhaps, but true.
But that doesn't excuse what the Celtics did - or didn't do - and why they are now in a situation that no one wanted.
They might go out and roll the Hawks today like they did in Games 1, 2, and 5, and like their 1984 forebears did against the Knicks in a similarly played series.
Larry Bird played one of his truly celestial games in Game 7 (39 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists, 3 steals), prompting Knicks coach Hubie Brown to reflect, "That was the day Larry Bird stepped from the All-Star category into the category of being a legend."
Does Paul Pierce have it in him for one of those types of games? We know Kevin Garnett does; he had 32 points and 21 rebounds in Minnesota's Game 7 dispatching of Sacramento in 2004, a tour de force if there ever was one. You know he'll be Red Bulled to the max for this one.
All kinds of questions. Will Mike Bibby continue to play like a wimp in Boston? Will Marvin Williams be healthy? Will Ray Allen regain his long-range shooting touch? Does Joe Johnson have a spoiler game in him?
And there's the coach of the Celtics. He still has yet to win a playoff series. He kept Sam Cassell in for too long in Game 6. He had two players on the floor (Rajon Rondo, Garnett) for the final possession - when a 3-pointer was needed - who aren't especially proficient 3-point shooters. Eddie House, meanwhile, was on the bench. He's tightened the rotation, which leaves House and Tony Allen on the outside - and leaves him open to critics. He defended Ray Allen's 3-point attempt late in the game with the Celtics down by 2 (and I think he's right there).
There are legions of Rivers bashers out there who think he and he alone stands between the Celtics and a 17th NBA title. Nothing short of a title will appease them and even that may not do it. But they'll have plenty of red meat to devour if the Celtics somehow manage to blow this one.
Nothing we've seen in the ebb and flow of this series indicates that that will be the case. For the Celtics' sake, they better ensure that the trend continues for one more game.
