Celts Win for 6th Time in Nine Days

November 13, 2008

Last April's first-round playoff series was more than a one-time collision, more than, well, a first-round playoff series. The Celtics and Hawks now appear to be headed for a season or two of contentious, fan-pleasing basketball. The Celtics needed 47.995 minutes to end the Hawks' season-opening, 6-0 winning streak with a 103-102 victory last night at the Garden.



Paul Pierce, again playing with a sore shooting hand and obviously still riding his 36-point wave from Monday night, hit a tough game-winner from 20 feet over Al Horford with a half-second left on the clock. Pierce finished with 34 points, but his last shot still seemed frozen in time 15 minutes later. ``The last play was drawn up as get the ball to Paul Pierce and get the hell out of the way,'' a near-breathless Kevin Garnett said. ``Superman's in the booth. Let's go home.''

From what the Celtics could tell, the Hawks were ready to do exactly that when Marvin Williams, off an inside-out dish from Joe Johnson, buried an open corner trey for a 102-101 Atlanta lead with 7.9 seconds left. Williams was swarmed by his teammates as Celtics coach Doc Rivers called a timeout. Kendrick Perkins said he could sense what was coming.

``He works on those plays every day,'' Perkins said of Pierce's 20-foot step-back jumper, which the Celtics captain created by dribbling for space after drawing Horford off a Garnett pick. ``When Marvin Williams hit that shot in the corner, I could tell that (Pierce) was mad. I saw them dancing out there. They thought it was over. But the Big Three is never over.'' As on Monday, when he immediately started to ice his hand after a 22-point fourth quarter, Pierce once again had an ice pack on the back of his right hand after the game. No problem, Pierce said.

``Once I went to the right I had the big guy on me. I sort of got to my sweet spot and I felt good the whole time,'' he said. ``The play was to get the ball to Kevin and if they switched off, either hand off or he would take the drive down the lane. But they switched and put Horford on me, and I knew I could get to my spot. I got to it, and thank God it went in.'' Pierce has extra reason to give thanks, for these are not your father's - or even your own - Hawks. Instead, the NBA's top defensive team squared off against a new Atlanta, No. 3 in field goal defense and fourth in scoring stinginess, in a game with more lead changes than a four-day golf tournament. The Hawks held to those defensive standards despite the absence of Josh Smith (ankle sprain) and the quick descent of Horford into foul trouble.

In a second half where the margin never moved above two points until a Garnett layup with 3:32 left, the teams took the lead a combined 23 times and tied the score another 10. From three Maurice Evans 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to Williams' bomb and a rain-making midair jumper from Johnson that tied the score at 99, the Hawks made big shots.

``It was frustrating just trying to get a stop,'' Rivers said. ``You've got two of the top four defensive teams in the league, and on every possession the other team kept scoring. That's frustrating for a coach. Then you get up by three or four, and they make a 3. I mean, they made amazing shots. For fans, it was fun.'' And for the Celtics, it was their sixth game in nine days. They have won all six. For the players, that has to be fun, too.