Celtics make the best out of disappointingly long series with Hawks anniolating them in the winner take all game

SCOTT JACOBS 

It was a fun ride, and an unexpected wrinkle to the 2008 NBA Playoffs.  But the Boston Celtics had enough of Atlanta toying with history. They were tired of the growing number of skeptics who said the Celtics couldn’t close, and that the Hawks wanted it more. Coming out ablaze early, and running Atlanta as well as Marvin Williams out of the building, the Celtics finally closed up shop an Atlanta team that was eight games below .500 in the regular season.

Now they can take a deep breath with a dubious first round loss to the lowly Hawks out of the equation and prepare for King James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Atlanta shot the ball attrociously and looked lost, espcially Josh Smith, who couldn’t get anything to fall.  The Hawks who won three spirited games inside the revived Philips Arena this week, failed to win one in Beantown, and thus ends their wild journey.

While no one thought they’d win a game, Atlanta won three.  So there’s that.  And the Hawks can hold their hat, knowing they competed and pushed the Celtics to the brink of elimination.  But it wasn’t to be, as Boston came out quick and came out determined, playing ferocious defense, altering shots, and holding Atlanta to one opportunity each time down the floor.

The Hawks didn’t score 30 until the third quarter, and by then the lead had ballooned into the high 20’s, low 30’s.  It was what you expected going INTO this series. Hawks lose, hawk lose, haw lose, ha lose.  Atlanta was going to be the series where the Celtics pummeled the sub .500 team into the ground.  But it wasn’t until game seven that Mike Woodson’s Hawks truly saw that the slipper didn’t truly fit.

When you looked around it made sense.  KG, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, James Posey, Sam Cassel, P.J. Brown were all playoff stalwarts in the past.  The best Atlanta could offer up was Joe Johnson’s foray in 2005 with the Suns, and Mike Bibby’s playoff experience with the Kings. But everything was against the Hawks.  Their experience, their wins, their history.

So, Boston wins 99-65, thrashing Atlanta’s “dream big, believe big” mantra.  But it was a great run for Atlanta, which despite a dead home court advantage during the rregular season, regained the fans that helped them to so much success in the late 1990’s.

On Friday it was 1999 all over again.

On Sunday it was 2008.  But that’s okay.  Atlanta put up a great fight.  They should only continue to get better.  They’ve got a terrific young nucleus in place.  Then again, they are the Hawks.  And they didn’t even scratch close to .500.  So maybe this was a fluke.

Whatever it was, hope is back in the ATL, and the Hawks are to thank.

Boston moves on, the Hawks go home.  Will we look back at this series in two three years down the road as the test that helped vault Atlanta into the East’s top echelon?  Only time will tell.

Boston-Cleveland should be great.  The Three Amigos versus James and his ragtag crew.

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