(above: Jermaine Dupri and [Lil] Bow Wow holla back at ZaZa Pachulia)
The Celtics can end this tonight, should end this tonight, and God I hope they will. That said, I think that there is a serious misconception that these Hawks are an abysmal team and that losing two games to them on the road indicates the Celtics have a glaring weakness. The Hawks are very young, and like many young teams, they are very susceptible to being rattled by hostile crowds. On the other side of the coin, they are a completely different beast--a super athletic, energetic, excitable beast-- in front of a home crowd.
Just look at the numbers. This season the Hawks were a respectable 25-16 at home, including a 9-5 home record with Mike Bibby. This included wins over Utah, Orlando, Phoenix, Cleveland, Denver, LA Lakers, and Toronto -- all playoff teams. Its been a tough place for good teams to pull out wins all season. Nevertheless, the Celtics' sole visit to Atlanta resulted in a 10-point win in which the Celtics only used their reserves against the Hawks starters. So maybe the C's shouldn't have lost back-to-back games in Atlanta this week, but then again, it isn't as catastrophically embarassing as people are making it out to be. Josh Smith, by all indication, is going to be a star. Joe Johnson is unstoppable when he is on. Al Horford, if he would stop celebrating every basket he makes by staring at his flexed biceps like a hyperactive John Basedow, can be a very good player in the league. Not to mention Josh Childress, who seems to always be in the right place at the right time (clearly a smart player) and Bat-boy Bibby, they aren't really as bad as their reputation indicates.
The most dispicable presence in this series has been the refereeing. Wednesday's officiating was atrocious on both sides. Al Horford got pinned with a flagrant on a firm but not that hard foul on Garnett in which he was clearly going for the ball. They showed the replay, and I didn't really see any indication of a flagrant from any angle. Then in the third quarter, Paul Pierce got called for two of the most outrageous fouls I have ever seen, back-to-back. While everyone, including the Hawks, awaited a make up call for the first Pierce foul, Pierce instead go called for another, even more phantom foul. Pierce, who this whole series has been on the edge of exploding emotionally, could do nothing but laugh. That's when you know the call is bad - when the guy flashing gang signs in response to slight trash talk is so incredulous that he lightens up and laughs at a call that went against him.
I really want this series to end in Atlanta, if for nothing more than seeing Jermaine Dupri gently cry the lyrics of "money ain't a thang" into his bankruptcy lawyer's arms on the sideline.Source URL: https://ledger-heath.blogspot.com/2008/05/ballin-in-nba.html
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