Celtics (3-1) at Hawks (1-3) Game 5 5/8

[Andrew Celtic Nation]

I think we absolutely need to close this out at home, if this goes to 7 I see the Hawks winning it.

[droopdog7]

A couple of subtle points.  Why take ray out of the game if we were just going to foul?  Second, rondo should have gone to the middle of the floor to give himself more options.  He ran himself into a corner.

Josh Smith, who is one of the best and most athletic defenders in the game of basketball, completely took away his passing lanes and the center of the court. Then, Horford, who is also athletic and long, smothered Rondo in the corner.

Atl certainly made the plays, no doubt.  But I'm quite certain that rondo could have taken the ball anywhere he wanted, especially since they are in the open court.  It would have been nice to have ray out there because he definitely would have been trying to get open.  Not sure why doc chose to take him out if the plan was to foul immediately?

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

So I guess Boston wasn't too interested in rest. Or maybe the Cs got a memo before the game saying tonight's contest would only be a one-quarter affair.

Seriously exasperating. Bass misses a dunk, Rondo forgoes an open layup for a pass to a covered Stiemsma and the result is a turnover, Pierce missing open shots BEFORE he tweaked his knee. The Cs probably made 100 mistakes in this game, and if they'd made just 99, they would've won.

And then Boston gets the gift of an Atlanta turnover at the end, meaning they needed only a 2 to win, not a 3, and Rondo turns into Antoine, dribbling it off himself. Nice.

[RajonRondOWNED]

wow. honestly, this team is in trouble.

This is not an over-reaction. Pierce is not healthy. We needed to steal this game and let everyone rest up. We now go into Thursday with a 50% Pierce, Ray is shooting well but still doesn't look too mobile. I see this going to 7 and even if we can pull something out, the lack of rest is going to kill us.

No. That is an over-reaction. You have no idea what is wrong his Pierce and we have no reason to believe it is something that is going to last.

The Hawks played their best game in a long time. Period.

[Celtics31]

Also, I'm not going to blame Rondo, I mean he lead a lot of the comeback. But seriously, why couldn't he just GIVE THE BALL TO KG?!?!

right when he got across half court he had an opportunity, and then again with about 3 seconds left. In a situation like that, you know the best you are going to get is an off-balance, contested jumper.

Rondo has no chance of making one of those, KG is the teams best bet being 7 feet and having that kind of range. Rondo really needed to just give the ball to KG and let him pump fake once or twice and throw up his best shot.

No excuse for not getting a shot off there.

[lightspeed5]

Im more worried about our chance at missed rest then the Hawks now to be honest.

If Pierce cant get rest and get healthed, we will be lucky to make it out of the 2nd round.

rest? we play again in less than 48 hours.

[mqtcelticsfan]

You're right. Chris Paul would have easily been able to get up a shot against Horford.

No Chris Paul would have not dribbled into the two best defenders on the opposing team and would've given to ball to either Peitrus or Pierce on the break

Oh, for God's sake. He didn't "dribble into the two best defenders." The two best defenders stepped up to get to him. Smith closed on Rondo on that play to take away the pass, and Horford closed on him in the corner.

[greg683x]

Is Chris Paul available this offseason?

I don't know is he going to make us rebound better

Chris Paul is closer. We need a closer badly

You're right. Chris Paul would have easily been able to get up a shot against Horford.

No Chris Paul would have not dribbled into the two best defenders on the opposing team and would've given to ball to either Peitrus or Pierce on the break

lol so when he passes the ball to Pierce and he misses the game winner, then this board would be absolutely murdering Pierce right now.

or how about if he passes the ball to Pietrus, they'd be killing him for giving the ball to a role players with 3 seconds on the clock and say CP3 wouldve taken it himself

theres no logic.

[CelticG1]

A couple of subtle points.  Why take ray out of the game if we were just going to foul?  Second, rondo should have gone to the middle of the floor to give himself more options.  He ran himself into a corner.

Josh Smith, who is one of the best and most athletic defenders in the game of basketball, completely took away his passing lanes and the center of the court. Then, Horford, who is also athletic and long, smothered Rondo in the corner.

Atl certainly made the plays, no doubt.  But I'm quite certain that rondo could have taken the ball anywhere he wanted, especially since they are in the open court.  It would have been nice to have ray out there because he definitely would have been trying to get open.  Not sure why doc chose to take him out if the plan was to foul immediately?

Ah cause of defensive purposes? Every team obviously goes for the immediate steal or try and force a 5 second violation.

Then if they need to foul they would have obviously subbed Ray back in

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

This result was basically the worst of both worlds: a hobbled Pierce continued to play, and Boston loses anyway. Fan-freakin-tastic.

And I understand Bass not being able to cover Josh Smith, but not being able to stay with Horford away from the ball? Lame.

[Clovertown]

I would like to see more Stiemsma.  The Celtics are 20-4 on the season when Greg plays 18 min or more.  That's a pretty telling stat.  Coincidence?

It very well could be. Something like 10 of those wins were blowouts, where we would be sitting KG. Someone had to play those minutes at the 5.

Greg played with KG a lot in those games.  Maybe they were blowouts because there was someone guarding the rim and altering shots for half the game other than KG.

[birdwatcher]

Im more worried about our chance at missed rest then the Hawks now to be honest.

If Pierce cant get rest and get healthed, we will be lucky to make it out of the 2nd round.

rest? we play again in less than 48 hours.

Rest is overrated. We rested the starters at the end of the season and went into game 1 with ZERO rhythm and ended up losing the game. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to have won tonight, but the whole rest thing is a farce. Pierce will probably be better off playing through his injury and keeping it mobile. As soon as he sits, he's going to stiffen up.

[crownsy]

A couple of subtle points.  Why take ray out of the game if we were just going to foul?  Second, rondo should have gone to the middle of the floor to give himself more options.  He ran himself into a corner.

Josh Smith, who is one of the best and most athletic defenders in the game of basketball, completely took away his passing lanes and the center of the court. Then, Horford, who is also athletic and long, smothered Rondo in the corner.

Atl certainly made the plays, no doubt.  But I'm quite certain that rondo could have taken the ball anywhere he wanted, especially since they are in the open court.  It would have been nice to have ray out there because he definitely would have been trying to get open.  Not sure why doc chose to take him out if the plan was to foul immediately?

your quite certain with 4 seconds left after crossing half court Rondo could have taken the ball anywhere he wanted?

I know he's a great playmaker and all but come on. It was a broken play with no time outs and he had no options. We move on to game 6.

[Celtics31]

wow. honestly, this team is in trouble.

This is not an over-reaction. Pierce is not healthy. We needed to steal this game and let everyone rest up. We now go into Thursday with a 50% Pierce, Ray is shooting well but still doesn't look too mobile. I see this going to 7 and even if we can pull something out, the lack of rest is going to kill us.

No. That is an over-reaction. You have no idea what is wrong his Pierce and we have no reason to believe it is something that is going to last.

The Hawks played their best game in a long time. Period.

You really think after the Pierce we saw tonight, he is going to be close to 100% by Thursday? Hell, I honestly think they might be better off resting PP for Thursday, and then if it does go to 6, at least have him well rested.

This isn't a "bi-polar" reaction. The Hawks have played 1 poor game this series. I am by no means saying that all of a sudden the Celtics suck or can't win the series, but this team NEEDED rest to prepare themselves for next round.

Let's say Pierce is really banged up and produces practically nothing Thursday. That is a real real tough game to win, us essentially without Pierce, and the Hawks having Horford eat us up inside.

That puts us in Game 7 on the road, with a still unlikely healthy PP. I see that game as a coin flip if it comes down to that.

[birdwatcher]

Chins up, guys. Game 6 in Boston. We'll be fine.