One of the contributing factors to this teams postseason success that hasn't gotten nearly enough ink was the tireless support from the Garden faithful. The chants of "DEFENSE!!, DEFENSE!!" were never-ending from the Hawks series, on and in general the crowd made the Garden an EXTREMELY uncomfortable environment for visiting teams, while also a very invigorating one for the team in green.
The crowd factor in Boston was always evident when the Celts went on the road - i was actually more impressed with the Hawks crowd rather than that of the Cavs, Pistons, or Lakers. The Pistons use gimmics to get their crowd going, which rarely provides much besides an occational standing ovation when they hear that deafening whistle or when Mason has to spell it out for them to get pumped. And the L.A. crowd? I don't even know where to start! They've priced all the true Laker fans out of that place, especially during the playoffs - when it becomes the trendy event to show up to and be seen at. There were so many fraud fans at the games in L.A. that they didn't know when to cheer and how to do it...it's part of the crowd's responsibility to help their team out as a massive lead dwindles to single digits.
Just goes to show that when it comes down to it, Boston fans are truely the best at what they do....now if you'll excuse me, i'm off to the Laker blogs to bask in some of that good ol' fashioned L.A. whining.