Boston Take 2-0 Lead Over Flailing Hawks
Wednesday, April 23, 2008 at 10:48PM Aaron Gettings 
"I Love That Little Man"
I shouted that in the first quarter when Rajon Rondo came up with a huge defensive rebound over Pachulia and Josh Smith, ripping the ball away, mid-air from the much larger Hawks. I shouted it again on the next play as KG found Rondo loitering unnoticed underneath the hoop for an easy dunk. I shouted it one more time, on the very next play, as Rondo intercepted an attempted pass from Acie Law, sprinted down the court and made a beautiful over-the-shoulder pass to a trailing Leon Powe for a huge dunk.
I think I shouted it so many times and with so much conviction that I made my wife a little uncomfortable. I don't care. I just want to go to the rooftops and scream, "I Love Rajon Rondo!"... except I'm scared of heights, so I'll stick to writing about it here.
The Boston Celtics soundly defeated the Atlanta Hawks for a second straight game, 96-77. Once again, the key for the Celtics was great team basketball. The defense was stifling again, forcing 21 turnovers and holding the Hawks to 38% shooting. The offense was unselfish, racking up 23 assists and we absolutely dominated the offensive glass, snagging 13 offensive boards (to the Hawks lowly 5).
Unlike the first game, Boston didn't lose their command over the Hawks for a moment. Even when Pierce left the game early with a strained lower back (when Pierce went for a layup, Josh Smith came over for a "block", slammed into Pierce, knocking him to the ground and managed to land on Pierce's chest and steamrolled over his head), James Posey stepped right in and played masterfully. No worries, though, as 
Pierce came back in the second and finished the rest of the game. Let's just hope that his back doesn't tighten up on him too much.
There were 3 truly great developments during this game. The first is Doc's ability to keep our guys motivated and playing hard until the final buzzer. Up by twenty with just minutes to go, James Posey is diving on the ground for loose balls, we're double-teaming in the post, kicking the ball out on offense for the open three. When we build a lead, we're not giving it up and that's crucial.
Second was the crowd's treatment of Mike Bibby. I think it's safe to assume he regretted
his statements. From the first time his fingertips touched the ball the crowd was on him. Booing him every single time he had the ball, for the entire game, cheering at each missed shot (and there were a lot of those), and going wild every time he lost his dribble. For the second game in a row, Bibby was pathetic -- in fact, the Hawks had their rookie backup point guard play 22 minutes because Bibby was useless. He tried to laugh it off a few times throughout the game, but it was clear to everybody that we got to him. At one point I expected him to start crying and shouting, "You guys are so mean! Why won't you just leave me alone!"
In fact, I just found a video of the crowd chanting "RONDO'S BETTER", just like we had hoped for! Well played by everybody involved!
Last, and I touched on this a bit in the beginning, was the play of one Rajon Rondo. Completely outplayed Bibby once again. Tonight Rondo put up 12 points, grabbed 6 boards, had 8 assists, 4 steals and only one turnover, while shooting 6-11. As we've seen with him since the All-Star break, he's just been elevating his play every single game... I don't know if Cassell has anything to do with it, or if it's just experience and gaining confidence (or a combination of everything), but he's been amazing. Unfortunately, once again he's getting bumped from the MVC award that he probably should be receiving.
MVC: Paul Pierce. This is based on guts alone. Josh Smith falling on him was not a minor bump. Pierce was literally steamrolled, like he was one of the McKenzie brothers.
He tried to play immediately after, but it was apparent that he was in pain. He headed to the bench, got stretched and rubbed and worked on and came back to the game. He didn't need to play... we were in firm control, but he's a warrior. He stuck with it, and ended up with 14 points, 2 3's and 4 rebounds. Not a spectacular night, stats-wise, but a hell of an effort and enough to win MVC.
That's it... we're headed down to Atlanta now. While we may not beat them by 20 on their home court, I don't see any scenario where the next time we're in Boston, we won't be playing a completely different squad. Great night for everybody in green (fans included) . Now let's just keep this train rolling!
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