Hawks (34-23) at Celtics (33-24) 4/11

[FLCeltsFan]

 at  
Atlanta Hawks (34-23)  at Boston Celtics (33-24)
Wednesday, April 11
8:00 PM ET
Regular Season Game #58, Home Game #30
TV:   CSNNE,  SPSO, LP 754(ATL)/755(BOS)
Radio:  WEEI,  WCNN
TD Garden


Probable Starting Matchups
Point Guard
 vs  
Rajon Rondo vs Jeff Teague  

Shooting Guard
vs  
Avery Bradley vs Kirk Hinrich  

Small Forward  
 vs  
Paul Pierce vs Joe Johnson

Power Forward  
 vs  
Brandon Bass vs Josh Smith

Center
 vs  
Kevin Garnett vs Zaza Pachulia




Celtics Reserves
Greg Stiemsma
JaJuan Johnson
E'Twaun Moore
Keyon Dooling
Sasha Pavlovic
Marquis Daniels
Ryan Hollins
Ray Allen

Injured
Mickael Pietrus (concussion) out
Jermaine O'Neal (wrist)  out




Hawks Reserves
Tracy McGrady
Ivan Johnson
Jason Collins
Jerry Stackhouse
Erick Dampier
Jannero Pargo
Willie Green
Marvin Williams    

Injuries
Vladimir Radmanovic (back) out
Al Horford (Pectoral)  out


Team Connections
Josh Smith and Rajon Rondo both attended Oak Hill Academy…
Doc Rivers played for Atlanta from 1983-91
Rivers also holds the Hawks record for most assists in a career as a Hawk (3,866)
Celtics Assistant Coach Armond Hill played for the Hawks from 1976-80 and also during the 1983-84 season
Joe Johnson was originally drafted by the Celtics with the 10th pick in the 2001 draft
Hawks Assistant Coach Lester Conner was an Assistant Coach with the Celtics from 1998-2004
Paul Pierce and Kirk Hinrich both attended Kansas University
Tracy McGrady played for Doc Rivers in Orlando from 2000-04
Jannero Pargo and Brandon Bass were teammates in New Orleans during the 2006-07 season
Erick Dampier and Brandon Bass were teammates in Dallas from the 2007-09.

Key Matchups
 vs  
Brandon Bass vs Josh Smith
Smith is a very athletic and quick power forward and  Brandon must box out and keep Smith off the boards along with slowing him down on offense.  Smith is an average defender, though and so Bass should be able to get his shot off.  Neither player did well offensively in their first meeting with Bass scoring just 8 points and Smith going for 10.  

 vs  
Paul Pierce vs Joe Johnson
Joe Johnson  is athletic and quick and can score in bunches.  Pierce is stronger though.    Pierce was just 4-14 (13 points) in their first meeting while Johnson scored 25 on 9-17 shooting.  Pierce was in foul trouble much of the game, with many of the calls questionable.  Hopefully that won't be a problem at home.    Pierce has been playing very well and should have a better game this time around.  Hopefully he can also keep Johnson in check on the defensive end as well.  

Honorable Mention
Rajon Rondo vs Jeff Teague
Rondo needs to be aggressive and set the pace for the game.   In their first meeting, Rondo scored 10 points and dished out 13 assists while Teague had just 8 points and 3 assists.   Rondo should give the Celtics the advantage at the PG position.  


Game Notes
This is the second meeting between these two teams this season.  They will meet one more time on April 20 in Atlanta.  The Celtics are 1-0 in the series after beating the Hawks 79-76 in Atlanta.  Ray came up big in the second half, hitting some key shots,  as did Pietrus who hit a couple of big shots as well as defending Johnson very well to limit his scoring at the end.  

Both of these teams are fighting for playoff position.  The Celtics are in the 4th spot by virtue of leading the Atlantic division.  The Hawks are in the 5th spot 1 game ahead of the Celtics.  The Hawks are also just 1 game behind the Pacers who are in the 3rd spot. The Celtics are 2 games back of the 3rd spot.  Every game now counts and each game could change the seeding. Since this is a potential first round matchup, this one could help to determine home court in that series.   Both teams need this game and so expect a tough hard fought game.  

The Celtics are 20-9 at home while the Hawks are 15-15 on the road.  The Hawks are 7-3 in their last 10 games while the Celtics are 8-2 in their last 10..  Atlanta has had a very rare 3 days off since their last game.  They will be well rested and will benefit from an opportunity to practice over that break.  The Celtics are playing on the second night of back to back games and are in a brutal stretch of 7 games in 9 nights.  They are coming off a big win over the Heat which could give them a psychological boost.  The Celtics swept their last back to back set and hopefully they can do it again.  

Keys to the Game
Defense -  Defense is key to every win.  The Celtics need to play tough team defense.  They did the job in their last meeting by holding them to 38.7% shooting.  They have to guard the perimeter as the Hawks have good 3 point shooters who can kill a team from out there.  They also have to defend the paint because players like Smith, Johnson and Pachulia can get to the hoop and score there.  

Rebound - The Celtics must make an effort to go after rebounds.  They must box out and prevent Smith and Pachulia especially from getting tip ins and to prevent the Hawks from getting second chance baskets.  The Hawks had 26 points in the paint in their last meeting and many of those were tip ins at the hoop. The Celtics showed that rebounding is effort by out-rebounding the Heat and they need to put that effort on the boards in this game also.    

Be Aggressive - The Celtics must be the more aggressive team.  They have to go after rebounds and loose balls.  They must be aggressive in going to the basket and not settle for jumpers.  They also have to be aggressive on defense and get stops.   They must play like they want it more.  We saw that aggressiveness against the Heat.  Hopefully fatigue won't prevent them from showing it again.  

X-Factor
Fatigue and Home Again
The Celtics are playing in back to back games after a tough game in Miami and they had to travel overnight as well.  Atlanta has been off since Saturday and should be well rested (or maybe rusty).   The Celtics are at home and hopefully will get some energy from the crowd.  

[alajet]

This is, by no means, an easy game. Fatigue will be troubling, but the team has got a huge morale and confidence boost as of late. Expect this to be a defensive affair and if we dictate the flow of the game and tempo as we've been doing recently, I expect us to pick up a quality win tonight.

[SHAQATTACK]

Atlanta has had a decent season, without alot of fanfair , they are a very dangereous team and can beat anybody on a given night.

Having to play a quality team like the Hawks back to back is going to be tuff hill to climb.

Good news is KG only played 33 minutes in the win last night over the heat.  Thanks Doc !!

SO we should have KG and AB with decent energy  Ray should not be too worn down I hope.

Bass has the big job of not letting Smith go crazy for 35 points.

Would have been nice to have Pietrus and Wilcox for these back to back games.

An't gonna be easy. Maybe Doc can pull a rabbit out of his hat once again.

[Employee8]

I think we can expect a drop off in our offensive performance tonight but our defense intensity should still be there.  I hope the Celtics can forget yesterday and leave it in the past, and not expect to coast through this game.  The bench is going to make a difference in this one.  Maybe we can see some E'Twaun Moore tonight?  I don't expect Doc to stick to the usual 8 man rotation in this game.

Actually I wouldn't mind a blow out loss if it means we can be rested for the back-to-back-to-back games this weekend.

[dmny5000]

FL you forgot to list Ray Allen under Celtics reserves.

This should be a good game, I like the Bradley-Hinrich match up. Avery has too much quickness for him.

Go C's!

[alajet]

FL you forgot to list Ray Allen under Celtics reserves.

It looks like AB has improved to the point that he's both a starter and a reserve now, simultaneously

[jgod213]

Garden should be rocking for a Wednesday night.  Nothing like the return of a beloved gladiator to fire up the coliseum.

[Celtics18]

It's another big game.  If we beat the Hawks, we'll move into a tie with them and Orlando, who are idle, for the fourth best record in the East.  I'd love to get home court advantage in the first round, instead of having to rely on that fake fourth seed for winning the division. 

[Marcus13]

Probably going to lose this one...but Im ok with that.  The team made me happy enough playing above themselves last night.

[SHAQATTACK]

I agree, big big game for C's...  Here is chance to put pressure on Atlanta and Orlando and reestablish ourselves as legimate condenter .  

Orlando is dropping like rock with DH out.   I think we have a legimate chance of moving in behind the Heaters and Bulls.

I believe the Celtics have exposed the Heat as a lax team waiting on the playoffs and team without passion .  They may lose a few more games themselves if they continue to coast.  ( I HOPE)

[letsgoblue86]

Just in case anyone was wondering, Atlanta hasn't played since Saturday 

[aporel#18]

TP, FL.

Last night was a very good game, so we can't expect a lot of energy from our Celtics tonight. Hopefully the bench can save our starters some extra minutes while keeping the Cs into the game until the starters can close it.

But as letsgoblue86 said, the Hawks will be rested, and they'll be focused in trying to beat the hottest team in the east right now. So as long as the Cs play good defense and share the ball like it's meant, we'll be ok with a day to rest before the b2b2b tour.

Go Celtics!!

[apc]

Zaza, i hope you are ready, we have a new beast down low.

[Who]

I think Atlanta's new starting lineup hurts them considerably against the Celtics. Makes it much easier for Boston to matchup against them with Bradley vs Hinrich and Paul vs Joe.

Pierce is going to make life much tougher for Joe Johnson than Ray Allen ever could. Pierce's physical attributes (size, strength, quickness) are a much better match against Joe than Ray was. Pierce's superior size and skill-level and will allow him to challenge JJ more in all three phases of the game - offense, defense and rebounding. Make JJ work much harder for his baskets and give him less rest defensively and attack him on the glass.

[Fafnir]

Yeah having Pierce on Joe Johnson instead of Bradley/Allen is nice. Johnson always had a field day on Ray Allen, forcing lots of help defensively.

Rather big game for home court in the first round, plus a win would cap off nicely the 7 game stretch against playoff teams at 5-2 instead of 4-3.