ATLANTA - For more than two quarters Monday night, the Celtics played without passion. They screamed at officials, missed open shots, and watched as Rajon Rondo threw passes at his teammates' shins. It was ghastly for Celtics fans who filled Philips Arena, sporting green
Midway through the third, Atlanta's 6-foot guard, Jeff Teague, dunked on Ray Allen and then screamed at the Celtics veteran. The basket put the Hawks up by 8, and they were threatening to pull away
But the disrespect appeared to motivate the Celtics, who began playing defense, and more importantly began hitting shots. The resulting barrage of 3-pointers was part of a pivotal fourth-quarter run that led to a 79-76 win.
We started the season expecting to see an aging, uninspired, and unathletic team sleep-walk through this strike-shorteneed 66-game season, and perhaps end the season a few games above .500 or a few games below. From a distance, the difference wouldn't matter much.
We expected this because we'd seen it all before, twenty years ago when the Bird Era came to an end.
There were nights, then and now, when the Big Three played magnificently despite their advanced ages and increasingly brittle bodies.
Once in a while, they played well for another reason.
They were pissed off.
Emotion is a key source of motivation.
The original Big Three had Bill Laimbeer and the Detroit Pistons.
I'm not sure today's Big Three really get fired up for anyone, unless, of course, the opponent goes out of their way to rouse them from their slumber.
Or, as Tommy Heinsohn used to ask, why would you ever try to make Larry Bird mad at you?
In any event, the Celtics stand 24-21, winning more games on the road than one might have anticipated.
Can they keep it up?
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"Yeah, it [ticked] me off," Allen said about Teague's taunting. "Because even if I was watching the game I would have been mad because you're trying to show the guy [up] you dunked on. Yeah he dunked on me. I've been dunked on before. But it cost them a free throw [on a technical on Teague]."
That free throw was the first point of a 36-13 run that put the Celtics ahead for good. In an emotional game that featured a flagrant foul by Brandon Bass on Zaza Pachulia, Teague, an athletic guard with jumping ability, took a Pachulia pass, went coast-to-coast, and rose on Allen under the basket. He then stood and screamed in Allen's direction, drawing the T.
"Yeah, there was a sense of anger," Allen said, "a sense of, 'We're going back at you guys,' because that was uncalled for."
When asked if the late Teague airball was payback, Allen said, "Yeah, the basketball gods are out there, and they watch."
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