vlaze.com

After the first two games of this series I never would have thought we would be talking about at least a 6 games series. The pressure is clearly on Doc Rivers and the Boston Celtics as the series moves back to Boston after blowing a 10 point lead heading into the 4th quarter of game 4. The Hawks are the youngest team in the NBA and looked that way getting pounded at Boston in the games 1 and 2. But the Hawks sped up the game and beat the Celtics off the dribble making the best regular season team in the NBA look old when the series moved back to Atlanta. Joe Johnson and Josh Smith picked up their games in game 3 and game 4 of their series and have now the confidence to make it competitive when the series heads back to Boston. Atlanta must cut down on their turnovers in this series if they are to take a game in Boston. What's lost in this series is the Hawk defense. Yes, the Hawk defense. They are doing a good job of limiting the amount of good looks the Celtics have around the basketball and have held Boston below average shooting percentage in every game. Hawks have confidence offensively now in the series and coupled with good defense against Boston makes them the play. Take Atlanta and the 13-½ points.