What if Josh Smith isn’t slowed with a knee injury, forcing him to miss Game 3?

What if one basket or stop goes differently down the stretch in Game 2, 3 OR 6?

All of these questions can eat at Hawks fans (not to mention players and coaches) as they settle in for the summer offseason. Now the NBA has officially given them one last “What if” to ponder.

FROM NBA.COM/OFFICIAL:
“With 3.1 seconds remaining in the the Boston-Atlanta game last night, a foul was called on the Celtics’ Marquis Daniels after the Hawks’ Marvin Williams had released the ball and therefore the foul was correctly treated as a common foul and not an Away-From-the-Play foul. With that said, however, the replay shows that the foul on Daniels should have been called sooner than it was by the officials, in which case it would have met the requirements of an Away-From-The-Play Foul.”

When an “Away-From-The-Play Foul” is called, the inbounding team is awarded one free-throw AND possession. Instead, the Hawks were not in the bonus yet, and maintained possession for a sideline inbounds.

“That would have been a huge play, a huge turn of events,” Josh Smith told the AJC’s Michael Cunningham. Indeed, it just adds one more “What If” to motivate Atlanta through offseason workouts as the NBA Playoffs move on without the Hawks.

Before the season even started, many analysts said that this group of Hawks had “topped out” and that they would be a borderline playoff team. Atlanta responded by starting 11-4, battling through a stretch of nine games in 12 days to start the season.

Al Horford tore his pectoral muscle on January 11, and the skeptics said the season would be lost. The Hawks won their next four games and maintained their position in the playoff hunt.

Joe Johnson joined Al on the injury report midway through the season and many thought that the Hawks had no chance without BOTH All-Stars. J-Smoove and the gang stunned the OKC Thunder at the Highlight Factory and emphatically stated “We will not surrender.”

And that brings us to the present. After a dismal Game 4, many analysts were spendind more time looking at Boston’s second round match-up with Chicago/Philly. The Hawks didn’t help themselves early, falling behind 9-2 and prompting ESPN analyst John Hollinger to tweet ”Start the bus folks.”

Hollinger has followed the Hawks all season long, so he should know better. Don’t count these Hawks out until the buzzer sounds.

Game 6 tonight is just another test for Atlanta. Their backs are still firmly against the wall. Lose, and the season is over. Win, and you can expect an electric crowd back at the Highlight Factory on Saturday night.

Here’s to hoping for the latter.

– Atlanta led by 7 with just over four minutes to play, however the Celtics quickly tied things at 83 … The Hawks answered, scoring the next four, but Celtics wouldn’t go away, cutting it to 87-86 on a Paul Pierce three-pointer and then forcing to a turnover with 10 seconds to go … Atlanta wouldn’t them to get a final shot off and came away with the win.

– The Hawks made a change to the starting lineup, sending out Marvin Williams and Al Horford along with Joe Johnson, Jeff Teague and Josh Smith … All five starters finished in double-figures with Horford (19 points\11 rebounds) and Smith (13 points\16 boards) posting double-doubles … Teague finished with 16 points while Johnson and Williams added 15 apiece.

– Kevin Garnett’s buzzer-beater gave Boston a 21-15 edge after a tightly played first quarter.

– The Celtics pushed the lead to as many as 10 in the second but a flurry of three-pointers (2 from Marvin Williams, 1 each from Johnson and Teague) by Atlanta in less than two minutes put the home team up 40-37 … Rajon Rondo then beat the halftime horn with a triple of his own to knot things at 40.

– A 10-0 third quarter run put the Hawks up 66-54 but the Celtics answered with a 10-0 burst of their own cutting it to 66-64 heading to the final frame.

– Kevin Garnett and Pierce each had 16 points for Boston, and Rondo had 13 points and 12 assists.

– The teams square off in Game 6 on Thursday in Boston (time TBD) on SportSouth HD, additional network TBD and 98.9 FM.

QUOTES >>>>>>>>>>

Hawks head coach Larry Drew: “Al Horford was absolutely huge tonight. His ability to move around at times when we were forced to make switches on defense, and his foot speed enabled him to stay with the ball. Offensively, he gives us a presence down there, and he made some big shots for us tonight. I didn’t want to bring him back that early in the fourth, but it was a close game and you could feel the momentum shifting. He was a superman for us down the stretch.”

“My heart was racing a hundred miles an hour on the last sequence. We put our best free throw shooters in the game. We didn’t make a smart play inbounding the ball, but I’m glad (Josh Smith) had the presence of mind on the last play to step up on (Rajon) Rondo when he came flying up the court. We were forced into a switch, and Al stepped up and took the ball. Rondo tried to turn the corner, but Al forced him back and then Josh deflected the ball. You’re forced to make switches in those types of last second situations. Other than Zaza (Pachulia) I think everybody else will be fine for game six. I’ll have to talk to Al to see how he’s feeling, but everybody should be ready to go.”

Al Horford: “I was tired a little bit, but right now I feel  fine. Maybe it’s the adrenaline from the game and tomorrow it will be a different story, but right now I’m fine. At the end of the third quarter I asked coach if he could sit me down for four or five minutes so I can come back and leave it all out there. But I had to go back in earlier than that. I was picking my spots on when to be aggressive out there. I didn’t want to lose the series that way, so I didn’t want to let (Rajon) Rondo shoot a jumper over me. You’re fighting for your life out there. I wanted to bring energy to the team tonight. We needed to win this game. We had a lot of guys step up tonight. Marvin and Joe stepped up to hit some big shots in key moments for us.”

Joe Johnson: “The court wasn’t necessarily more open with Al out there tonight. I was just trying to make the right play out there. It feels great to have him back on the floor. It’s a blessing to have everybody back out there. I thought Jeff (Teague) made a lot of great penetration tonight and it led to some easy baskets for us, with some dunks for Al and Marvin. When he’s doing that it makes us a hard team to beat. Our defense was a constant. We’ve played good defense throughout the series minus one game. If we keep that up, we have a chance. We want to take things one quarter at a time. We’re concerned with game six, the first quarter, and not letting them get out to a quick start.”

“Coach (Larry Drew) set up a play for me to get the ball, but it didn’t happen. Once the steal happened, I was just concerned with finding my man. But then Josh made a great defensive play at the end to seal it.”

Celtics head coach Doc Rivers:  “Al Horford was terrific tonight. Both he and (Marvin) Williams made a big difference tonight. We anticipated (the Hawks) playing hard tonight, since this was an elimination game. I didn’t like our execution tonight on offense down the stretch. Overall, I thought they played harder and better than us. When you look at the last couple of games, we had great motion and movement, but tonight I thought we were stagnant. It was good in the first quarter, but then things changed. Both teams missed a lot of opens shots tonight. Once they started to hit a few, they got their confidence up. This was the team they started the season with. They now have it, so now we have to deal with it.”

“We were going to foul them at the end, but our guys decided to try and get the steal first. We talk about end of the game situations every day at practice, especially for playoff games. I wish we had gone down the middle of the floor instead of the sideline, especially with a big (man) on you, unless it’s a fast break situation. I thought Kevin (Garnett) set a nice step up great pick, and I was hoping (Rajon Rondo) would attack the basket, but the lost control of the ball and that blew up any chance that we had. We didn’t capitalize on the situation. When you put yourself in a hole, you have to make a run, and we did, but then they made one back at us. Give them credit.

Rajon Rondo: “I tried to make a play but got caught on the baseline. Give Al (Horford) credit. I just didn’t come up with the shot. The guys on the bench kept saying ‘energy, energy’, so I wanted to bring energy on defense first. The way my shot was falling, I thought I could make shots all night. In the last 1:30 of the third quarter, I got some steals and we made some baskets off them. That got us closer heading into the fourth. There’s nights like Sunday when Paul (Pierce) makes all of his shots, and then there’s nights like tonight when he and I had low field goal percentages. We knew this morning in shootaround they would have their entire starting unit. Al makes a big difference. He can guard anybody on the court. Other than that, it’s the same Hawks we’ve been playing the last four or five years. We started out with great intensity, but then they made good runs on us the first half, and that got the crowd back into it. They jumped on us pretty good again at the start of the third quarter too.”

Atlanta opened the season with nine games in 12 days (they were the only team in the league to have such a hectic early schedule) and used the “traditional” starting lineup for each contest. Then, Marvin Williams was injured in the game on January 7, and Al Horford suffered his more serious injury just a few days later, forcing LD to juggle his lineup ever since.

Tonight the crew is reunited. The five players that many Hawks fans would identify as the “core” of the team will all be on the floor when the ball goes up. After all, this is an elimination game. There is no tomorrow if Atlanta does not show up and put their best foot forward tonight.

MORE FROM THE BLOG: Step One – Win Game 5

Boston was much more effective in Game 4, but not because they came in with a different strategy or gameplan. They made shots. Plain and simple. Some of them were contested, some of them were open looks. Every team has games where the other team seems to get all the breaks and they are never able to seize momentum. Unfortunately, that game was on Sunday night for the Hawks.

The good news is that point diferential does not get you anything in the playoffs. A loss is a loss, but it is only one game. It is still first team to four wins advances, and step one for Atlanta will be to get a win at the Highlight Factory on Tuesday.

“I just have to rest and see how it feels,” Josh told Michael Cunningham of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution before the game. “I don’t want to risk a domino effect and it being something more than what it is.”

Josh participated in Friday’s morning shootaround and did not immediately rule out playing in the game.

“It felt pretty good until I started doing a lot of exploding up the basket,” Smith said. “That’s where the pain really starts to generate when I become explosive with it. But as far as running and cutting and everything else it feels OK.”

SMITH’S INJURY A STRAINED LEFT TENDON, STATUS DAY-TO-DAY

ATLANTA, GA – Atlanta forward Josh Smith, who left Tuesday’s game against
Boston with a sprained left knee, was diagnosed with a strained left tendon and
his status is day-to-day.

So you can add Smith to the list of wounded Atlanta big men, but hope that his “day-to-day” classification leads to a quick return to action. The injury appears to be related to the tendinitis that Smoove has battled all season long. Josh and fellow starter Jeff Teague were the only Hawks players to appear in all 66 regular season games, and they joined only 14 other players around the entire league that started all 66.

Meanwhile, Zaza Pachulia’s day-to-day has turned into week-to-week, as Friday will make it three weeks since he injured his foot in Orlando. Big Z has seen improvement over the last few days and has not ruled out a return on Friday for Game 3.

With two days off in between Game 2 and Game 3, the Hawks will have time to watch a lot of film and make strategic adjustments in an effort to regain home court advantage with a win in Boston. Maybe more importantly, the two days off will provide time to rest and (hopefully) recover.

– Joe Johnson led the Hawks with 22 points, Jeff Teague put in 18 and Josh Smith tallied 16 points and 12 rebounds before leaving the game late with a sprained left knee.

– A back-and-forth opening quarter, featuring 6 ties and 5 lead changes, ended with the teams deadlocked at 24.

– Both clubs struggled shooting in the first half but it was Atlanta taking a 44-41 advantage to the break … Paul Pierce had 16 points for Boston in the first 24 minutes, while Teague put in 12 for the Hawks.

– The Hawks led by as many as 11 in the third but the Celtics were able to trim it to 66-61 heading to the final frame … Boston reclaimed the lead at 72-70 with 6 minutes to play in the game and slowly pulled away as the offense abandoned Atlanta in the fourth (14 points).

– The Hawks shot .349 from the field for the game and made 16-20 FTs, while the Celtics shot .426 and hit 26-31 from the charity stripe.

– Pierce posted game-highs of 36 points and 14 rebounds, and Kevin Garnett had 15 points and 12 boards.

– Game 3 is set for 7:30pm Friday at Boston (SportSouth HD, ESPN, 98.9 FM).

“This is a totally different time of the year,” Joe said this morning after shootaround. “We understand that if one guy goes out another one can step up and play big. We’re very aware of that.”

Then Joe added an emphatic promise: “There won’t be a letdown tonight.”

The most significant piece of Rondo’s game that will be missed by the Celtics is his ability to set up his teammates. His ability to get into the lane and deliver the ball to players in position to score is a unique skill set in basketball, and the players that will be handling the ball in his place (Bradley, Pierce and possibly Allen) will provide a different challenge.

“Now whoever is at the point is probably more of a scorer than anything,” said Joe. “So some of the coverages are going to change a little bit.”

MATCH-UPS TO WATCH

Johnson vs. Pierce
Both All-Stars struggled through poor shooting nights in Game 1, and you can count on their production increasing tonight. Joe scored only one point in the second half on Sunday, finishing with 11 points and missing all nine of his attempts from long range. Paul was not much better, scoring 12 points and finishing 0-for-6 from behind the arc.

“We’re anticipating (Pierce) handling the ball more and him having more shot attempts,” Coach Drew said this morning. “We just have to be ready for it.”

Ivan vs. KG
Playoff games are almost always physical, but Garnett and Ivan Johnson take things to another level. The Celtics use KG for a lot of ball screens, which early in the season would have caused problems for Ivan. Early in the year he would get lost after forcing the dribbler wide with a hard show, and would be late recovering to his own man. Johnson was not hurt by these sets on Sunday, and should be ready again tonight.

“We said early we really wanted to dictate the rhythm of the game of getting out and running and exploring what we had in transition,” Atlanta head coach Larry Drew said after the win. “If it wasn’t there, then we ran our secondary offense.”

Atlanta’s guard tandem of Jeff Teague and Kirk Hinrich was accurate from behind the arc, combining to hit 6-of-8 from long range. They hit three triples in the first quarter to help the Hawks establish their big lead.

The Celtics, as expected, did not go quietly despite the early deficit. After the Atlanta lead swelled to 19 points in the third quarter, Boston made one last push and got as close as four points in the closing minutes.

“We knew they were going to be able to calm their nerves down and be able to get back to the way they play basketball,” said Josh Smith postgame. “We didn’t feel the pressure of needing to get a bucket. That’s just us being able to be in the playoffs multiple years and understand situations. We dug ourselves out of holes when the right time presented itself.”

The Hawks did this all without much offensive production from Joe Johnson. Joe was limited to just one point in the second half, finishing the game with 11. He did play stellar defense the entire night, holding Paul Pierce to just 12 points on 5-of-19 shooting. The encouraging thing must be that Atlanta was still able to secure the victory when Joe had an off night.

The two teams will return to action on Tuesday night at the Highlight Factory, and the Hawks will look to take a 2-0 lead in the series before it moves to Boston later in the week.

GAME NOTES:

– The Hawks led from start to finish, knocking off the Celtics 83-74 at Philips Arena on Sunday to take a 1-0 series lead.

– Josh Smith led the way with 22 points and postseason career-best 18 rebounds … Jeff Teague scored 15 points, Kirk Hinrich 12 and Joe Johnson 11.

– Atlanta opened the game on a 20-6 run, pushed the lead to as many as 17, before settling for a 31-18 edge after one … Both teams played solid defense in the quarter but the Hawks won the stanza, 18-17, to take a 49-35 advantage at the break (after being up 19).

– Boston managed to cut it to 65-53 after three and 78-74 with one minute to play, but Johnson, Smith and Teague all hit clutch free throws down the stretch to ice it for the home team.

– The Celtics finished 0-11 from three-point range and shot .390 overall … Atlanta won the battle of the boards 50-41.

– Kevin Garnett (20 points\12 rebounds) and Rajon Rondo (20 points\11 assists) each had double-doubles for the Celtics.

– The Hawks reserves outscored their Boston counterparts 17-4.

– Game 2 is set for Tuesday (5\1) at Philips Arena at 7:30pm (SPSO HD, NBA TV and 98.9 FM).