How this team overcame the almost surreal three point shooting of the Hawks, their own three point shooting woes and poor officiating that had to have led to at least a ten point increase in the Hawks point total tonight is incredible.
Especially despicable on the refs tonight were the Pachulia call in the first quarter where he fouled Rondo and yet the ref allowed the continuation on the shot and the free throw, Pierce's block late in the game that was as clean as they come yet called a foul to put Johnson on the line, the trip of Garnett in the second quarter underneath that led to Rondo passing the ball out of bounds, Bibby's leg flailing foul call late that got the Hawks two more, and I know I'm forgetting at least 3-4 more that were just blatantly egregious. The way this game was played the Celtics should easily have had a 20-25 free throw differential. Some of the calls that went the Hawks way were bogus.
But all that said, it was a hell of an exciting game to watch and Atlanta impressed the ever living heck out of me. No Josh Smith, no Pachulia for a half, no Horford for the better part of a half due to early foul trouble and yet they almost pulled it out. Evans, Murray, and Jones outplayed our bench by a wide margin I thought and Williams and Bibby's outside shooting was spectacular.
I am once again unimpressed with what the bench has provided this Celtic team for the second straight game, both being at home. Allen's offense was non-existent for the second game in a row after his best bench scoring effort ever. Leon has become a black hole and had some trouble the past two games with very athletic and tall(at least Toronto's case) front lines. Eddie's shooting, especially from deep, has been woeful.
I hope this is just a lull or a case of bad match ups and shooting slumps and not a pattern. I was encouraged by the bench play through the first 7 games but they have disappeared in the last two games. Let's hope for a turnaround.
Topic: Hawks (6-0) at Celtics (7-1) 11/12 (Read 46916 times)