LOY's PLACE a celtics green blog: Hawks Soar Past Celtics 102-93

The Celtics flew to Atlanta and apparently left their defense in Boston. There was no sight of the league's best defense in this game as the Celtics allowed the Hawks to shoot 47% for the game and 56% from beyond the arc. Apparently the Celtics left their effort in Boston also as they allowed the Hawks to out-rebound them 43-35. The effort and focus just weren't there for the Celtics in this game and the Hawks made them pay.

It was a physical game right from the start as Perk took an elbow to the nose from Horford just 1 minute into the game and left with a bloody nose. He came back to play 18 minutes total, much of that with both nostrils plugged with cotton. Without Perk's presence inside, the Hawks were able to get to the hoop at will for layups and dunks whenever they wanted.

Mike Bibby put his game where his mouth has been as he scored 12 points and dished out 8 assists and led his team to the win. Josh Smith had one of the best games of his career finishing with 27 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals. Horford and Johnson also played very well for the Hawks. Their bench finished with 10 points and 6 rebounds while the Celtics bench finished with 11 points and 14 rebounds.

Kevin Garnett did all he could to keep the Celtics in the game with 32 points and 10 rebounds. Paul Pierce and Ray Allen both had off shooting nights with Pierce finishing with 17 points on 5-13 shooting to go with 2 rebounds and 8 assists. Ray shot 5-14 for 13 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Rondo seemed to struggle at times in this game as he finished with 10 points, 2 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals.

The Celtics took way too many quick shots instead of moving the ball and finding the open man which has made their offense so potent. The ball movement just wasn't there in this game as each player seemed to try to win the game on their own instead of playing team ball. The Celtics defense which has been the best in the league all season just wasn't there and the Celtics seemed to be a step slow all night.

The Hawks played hard from the opening tip until the last basket. They disrupted the Celtics game plan on both ends of the court. They may have made the mistake of talking a bit too much trash at the end though. Pierce went for a steal on Horford and slipped and ended up on the floor while Horford went past and hit a layup. On his way back past, Horford taunted Pierce which made Pierce furious. Scal came out and headed Pierce back to the Celtics bench or he may have started something then and there. I expect Pierce to remember those words and use them as motivation to have a big game on Monday.

This game was had the makings of a disaster from the beginning when I saw that Violet Palmer was one of the refs. We never seem to fare well when she officiates our games.
Then, one minute into the game, Perk is taken out by an elbow. And the third quarter was delayed by a shot clock malfunction. They played the third quarter with no shot clocks and the PA announcer calling out the seconds. Murphy's Law was in full force tonight.

The Celtics need to regroup and regain their focus on both offense and defense before Monday's game. They played very poorly tonight and they knew it. I don't expect them to play this poorly on Monday and this loss should be motivation for them to step up their play for the rest of the playoffs.

[Box Score]
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