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.

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.

“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).

“If I thought our guys were banged up, I’d sit them. That’s not even a question for me,” Rivers said. “I’m taking rest and rhythm over home court.”

Boston has one of the older teams in the league, and they value rest and fresh legs as much as anyone, but a quick look at their record over this season and in recent postseasons and Rivers may have rushed to judgement in this instance.

The Celtics finished this season with one of the best home records in the league at 24-9, but finished three games below .500 when they played away from TD Garden. More than that, since Boston united the “Big 3″ they have never finished a postseason above .500 on the road. Going back to when they began the 2008 playoffs until now, the Celtics are 30-8 at home in the postseason, but are just 13-22 on the road.

“Home court is great,” said Celtics forward Paul Pierce. “You want to have home court, you want to play for home court. At the end of the day, we want to be healthy first. We’re definitely a better home team than road team.”

The reality is that home court advantage is just that – an advantage. Now that the season has transitioned into the playoffs, where the intensity grows each game, the Hawks will take any advantage they can get.

There are some in the media (and some in the Hawks’ fan base) that believe that Boston is a bad match-up for the Hawks. First off, this is the playoffs. You aren’t going to get an easy match-up anywhere. Those teams are already sitting at home watching on TV.

In terms of personnel, the Celtics are NOT a bad match up for Atlanta. Coach Drew recently talked about how Atlanta respects the Celtics, but they are definitely not intimidated by this first round match-up:

Many will point to the fact that the Celtics beat the Hawks twice this season when both teams were close to full strength. That is a true statement. (We are going to ignore the last game when Rondo, Garnett, Pierce and Allen all were inactive.)

What is also true is that the Hawks dictated play throughout a majority of both games. In fact, they led for over 25 minutes of the first game at Philips Arena, compared to the 14 minutes that Boston was in front. Then, in Boston, the Hawks led for over 33 minutes of regulation, compared to just nine for the Celtics (it was tied for 5 minutes). Take away a couple spurts of cold shooting that you would be hard pressed to blame on Boston’s defense, and the result of each game would have been different.

The Hawks have made it to the playoffs each of the past four years and their first rounds series are never easy. Starting with the seven-game thriller against Boston back in 2008, the Hawks have played 27-of-28 possible first round games, with last year’s six-game series with Orlando serving as the only one that didn’t go the distance.

The point is that the Playoffs are tough. They are supposed to be.

Boston is a tough opponent. Give them respect. Then give them toughness right back.

Both players (Pierce and Garnett) were at the team’s shootaround at Georgia Tech University, but neither will play. Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen and Mickael Pietrus are back in Boston, meaning the starting lineup tonight is likely Avery Bradley, Keyon Dooling, Sasha Pavlovic, Brandon Bass and Greg Stiemsma.

The move sends a clear message from Celtics’ coach Doc Rivers that the team will focus on getting players healthy and rested rather than pushing hard to lock up home court advantage. Boston is locked in to the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference, but could start the playoffs on the road if the fifth seed (currently the Hawks) has a better record. Atlanta enters tonight’s game with a half game lead over the Celtics and will move two games ahead in the loss column with a win.

The Hawks have broken through another barrier on first stop of their Texas two-step. Winning in a building for the first time in a decade is just another obstacle knocked down by this impressive Hawks squad.  The last time the Hawks won in Houston, the Rockets were playing in the Summit and Hakeem Olajuwon and Charles Barkley were on the court and not in the Hall of Fame. Coupled with the season sweep, the Hawks have yet again shown they have not only turned the corner, but are running around it by winning on the road in another tough environment. 

Good ball movement and crashing the boards, good games from Joe, Josh, and Jamal, along with a fantastic effort from the bench held of Houston late. Adversity revealed itself in the form of foul trouble for Al Horford and guard production from the Rockets, but in the end the better team played smart down the stretch.

SENDING A MESSAGE

The Hawks play three of their next five games on the road with no bums along the way.  San Antonito, Orlando, and Oklahoma City are all trying to move up in the standings. Improving on the road record certainly is a goal.  However, there are a couple of statement games along the way.  

With the Magic now looking up at the Hawks in the standings, this would be a good time to knock them down another peg and add more distance between the teams. It would also be good to win number one against Orlando this season at such an important time.  And what would it mean if the Hawks sweep the season series from the Celtics with a win on Friday night?

EYEBROW GATE

Was it a bet, a barber gone wild, a fashion statement, or midlife crisis?  Coach Mike Woodson left Atlanta with a winning streak and two full eyebrows.  He still has a shot at returning with a winning streak.  An answer may or may not come soon. Not one source of mine seems to know anything about the situation, and Coach Woodson was coy when asked about it after the game.  What do you think?

First place halfway through, three potential all stars, a great home record and still half a season to go. What did you expect from the Hawks? Did you expect them to be in first place, be one of the highest scoring teams in the league or having one of the best home records?  Did you expect them to beat the Celtics three consecutive times and get two wins in Boston? Did you expect the national media to pick up additional Hawks games throughout the year?

The players, coaching staff and ownership are not shocked one bit. The team has worked hard, learned to play well together, and is progressing nicely in the 2009-2010 campaign.

The Hawks started off hot and with the exception of a four game slide, have been a consistent team in the win column. It seems the team has learned not to let bad habits linger for long, and has figured out how to not one bad game snowball into a bad week or month. While there are times where the starts are slow and shot selection could be better, the good far exceeds the bad and this team has earned the top spot in the division. Can they hold it?  Here are some quotes on the first 41.

COACH MIKE WOODSON

“I like the direction that we are going, losses are tougher to swallow because expectations are high.”

JOSH SMITH

“Feels good, we just have to stay focused and not look at the standings and come out and play.”

MO EVANS

“We feel like we are right where we want to be and we still gave away few games that we felt like we should have had.  If we learn and put this chemistry together we can go really far.”

MARVIN WILLIAMS

“We’ve gotten off to a pretty good start, our goal was to get 50-plus wins and get home court advantage throughout the playoffs. We can’t have too many let downs.” 

ZAZA

“We had a good first half and we are looking forward to a better second half.”

JOE JOHNSON

“Our effort has to pickup in the first quarter, we can’t have mishaps in games we are supposed to win so we need to come out and handle business.”

OWNER BRUCE LEVENSON

“We couldn’t have asked for anymore than what we got this first half … I like this team I like this locker room.”

OWNER ED PESKOWITZ

“The team has just come together and is much better.  Jamal has made a great difference you can see a lot of chemistry, it’s really exciting. This team is really really competitive.”

THE GOOD TIMES OF THE FIRST HALF

The Hawks have had some memorable moments in the first 41 games this year here are a few:

Beating the Celtics three straight times, Jamal Crawford’s buzzer beater against the Suns, Smooth’s buzzer beater against the Rockets, the red jerseys, winning in Dallas, the largest crowd in Philips Arena History against the Cavs , the return of Mario West (Feel free to fill in the blanks).

THE BAD

Some things did not go the Hawks’ way in the first 41, but the sting of the not so good should be used to motivate the guys to not let them happen again.  I’m sure we all remember these:

The entire game against the Magic in Orlando in Orlando, The first half in Miami, the fourth quarter against Cleveland (10 points), two home losses against the Knicks, and who could forget Nate Robinson in overtime!

WHAT TO WATCH FOR IN SECOND HALF

Trade deadline- Is the team fine as currently constructed or will Gm Rick Sund pull the trigger on a move to make the team more devastating?  What do you think?

Mesmerizing  the Magic-The Hawks are in first place against the Magic, but Orlando owns the tie breaker. Figuring out how to beat this team will be huge for the standings and for a mental standpoint.

Beating Beatable and Bad Teams-With the Cavs, Celtics, Magic and Hawks close together not giving games away will be crucial in the second half.  If a team has a losing record they should be beaten. You can’t win them all, but imagine if the loses to the Knicks, Pistons, the Hornets without Chris Paul, had gone in favor of the Hawks.

“BOB-HAWKS”

Five former Hawks will be in the house on Friday as Acie Law, Stephen Jackson, Boris Diaw ,Nazr Mohammed and Flip Murray all return to the highlight factory as the enemy.  Charlotte is a very dangerous team and this will be a highly competitive game.  Great plays, three pointers, and blocked shots will be coming from both teams. Flip Murray was replaced by Jamal Crawford so that will be a production battle to watch. Flip was a fan favorite…but Jamal is better.

Johnson’s 36-point performance on Monday that saw him score in traffic, from behind the arc, triple-teamed, in transition, or any other way you can think of, reminded us a little bit of his a different highlight bundle from a couple years ago. If the all-star appearances weren’t enough to make the C’s regret their decision, these two games probably did the trick. Take a look at the footage and you decide which is more impressive.

January 11, 2010 – Regular Season @ Boston

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