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Sunday, April 27, 2008
Finger pointing (and other stuff)
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
SMYRNA -The catalysts for the Hawks Game 3 turnaround Saturday night can’t stop pointing the finger at one another.
Josh Smith swears it’s Al Horford’s fault.
Al Horford insists that Josh Smith is to blame.
No one, it seems, can decide who deserves more of the credit for energizing the Hawks in a must-win situation that could come to define their season.
Horford provided the inspiration video (and his second double double of the series), while Smith provided the explosive opening quarter (27 points, nine rebounds and six assists when it was over) that set the tone for the evening.
What should be clear by now is that the Hawks are a totally different team when they both play the way they did Saturday.
“I really think it starts with Josh,” Horford said. “He’s such an impact player. He just makes great plays. And I think when he makes those types of plays it gets everybody fired up. So I really think it starts with him.”
Smith said seeing the usually reserved Horford talking smack and playing to the crowd is what makes it so fun for him. “That’s how I try to play every night,” he said. “So any time he wants to join me and get things fired up, it’s always a good thing.”
I’ve been yapping about this since last week, to anyone that will listen, but I felt like the only way the Hawks could stir things up was to play through these two guys. With the Celtics locked in on guarding both Joe Johnson and Mike Bibby, there has to be an opening to play through these two young monsters and see if there was any way to shake things up a bit and catch the Celtics off guard. It worked Saturday but imagine things will be noticeably tougher for these two Monday night.
A few notes, a quote or two and several other random observations from a wild and crazy weekend in Hawksville:
— According my counterparts in Boston, and one of my spies stationed in and around the visitor’s locker room, it appears that the Celtics had it out after the game regarding the focus necessary to finish off a team like the Hawks. “We didn’t help each other on offense and we didn’t help each other on defense,” Celtics All-Star guard Ray Allen said. “We still had plays, we made plays. But just the typical Celtic basketball that we played all year, we always helped each other on both ends of the floor. Tonight, we didn’t do a great job of it.”
Even Celtics coach Doc Rivers sounded a bit miffed at his team’s sudden impulse to finish off the Hawks man-to-man rather than as a group. “I told the guys after the game that I thought each guy wanted to win the game by themselves, which you can’t do,” he said. “I like the fact that they wanted to win the game. The only way you’re going to do that is as a team. Even in the end you saw Rajon [Rondo] try to back Mike Bibby down [and got a foul]. That’s not what we do, but that’s what they all did. Rajon tried to win the game for us. Ray wanted to win the game for us. Paul [Pierce] wanted to win the game for us. But we have to win it as a group and that’s how it always has to be.”
— A scout from an Eastern Conference playoff team at Saturday’s game reminded me of one thing that you should never forget. “Average guys tend to come back to reality on the road,” he said. “I don’t mean starters or your All-Stars or anything, but your role players and bench guys. They usually have big games at home and then even out on the road.” I immediately thought of Kendrick Perkins, who looked like a shell of the bruiser we saw in Boston after Horford gave him that ‘bow to the nose early in the game. I happen to love what Perkins does for the Celtics, but my scout friend was right, you can’t count on the same production on the road as you can when a guy like that is playing at home. “Listen, when the Hawks turn that pace up the way they did, Perkins and P.J. Brown can forget it,” he said. “They can’t run up and down that floor like that. It’s a good thing the Celtics have Big Baby and Leon Powe, too. They aren’t ideal for that type of game but they’re better equipped than those other two guys. The Celtics can’t afford to try and play small ball with the Hawks or chase them up and down the floor. KG doesn’t have the same hold on the game like that. Ray and Paul are fine in that style. But KG dominates this team in a half court game. He could get nasty numbers no matter how they play because he’s three inches taller than any other player in the series. But if the Celtics want to finish these boys off, they’ll slow it down.”
— Another beat writer covering the Detroit-Philly series called me minutes ago to make sure I knew that he had cast his Rookie of the Year ballot for Horford (fine choice but I think the big fella’s going to lose out to Kevin Durant in the end). He also wanted me to know that he’s officially ready to hand over the title of “Most Ridiculous Athlete in the League” to Josh Smith. It’s something we do in our free time (all 20 minutes of it), debating stuff like who’s the best this or that. Previously my boy was lobbying hard for Amare Stoudemire (pre and post microfracture surgery). But after finally seeing Josh Smith on TV and not in person (go figure) he’s convinced more than ever that Josh Smith is the guy. “I gotta give it up to young fella,” he said. “I thought he was going to lay that one in and he just kept going up and up and up. I thought he was going to hit his head on the square. That boy’s got the craziest hops in the league.” My pops did him one better last night. He said it looked like JS took off from Decatur on that dunk over Ray Allen. My personal fave was the tomahawk joint on the fast break where he caught the ball in stride, took two steps and was in Condor mode gliding towards the basket. Forgive me John Wooden, but I’m a proponent of the slam dunk in basketball.
— “We were on top of our game. When we play like that I think we’re one of the best teams in the league. We just have to learn how to be more consistent and play like that every night.” - Hawks captain and All-Star Joe Johnson with the craziest line of the day [Sunday] after practice when asked if the Hawks’ success in Game 3 had anything to do with the Celtics feeling too good about their 2-0 lead in the series.
