Before leaving Boston, Atlanta Hawks player Mike Bibby took a few jabs at the flush fans of Beantown. Yeah, sure, they've had 16 NBA titles to cheer, but what have they done lately? Except stuff their rumpus rooms with Super Bowl and World Series memorabilia.

"Bandwagon jumpers," Bibby called them before Game Two of the Hawks' playoff series against the heavily favored Celtics. Consider the wasp nest stirred. Bibby was booed without mercy Wednesday, and the Hawks lost by 19.

Well, Atlanta is back home now, down 0-2 in the best-of-seven-games series and preparing Saturday night to play its first-ever postseason game in Philips Arena. And, honestly, it's the Hawks who would love nothing more than to turn the occasion into an episode of "Pimp My Bandwagon."

Jump on board, Atlanta, and bring a friend. There's plenty of room.

"I hope they come out and watch us and get behind us and do like Boston's crowd was doing," Bibby said upon his return.

Boston was bonkers. "Electric," said the most famous former Hawk, Dominique Wilkins, who felt no need to incur the wrath of New England. "That is a great basketball town, the most knowledgeable NBA town in the country. You expect that there."

Atlanta, favored neither by such gloried history nor high expectations, will be hard-pressed to match that energy.

Hawks still taking back seat

In the battle to win back fans after eight seasons out of the playoffs, the Hawks are up against it. The competition for local attention is stiff. The Falcons wield the big scythe in this weekend's NFL draft harvest. The Braves have a series in New York against the rival Mets.

And the biggest noise at Philips came Friday night when "The Boss" made a rare visit. We're talking Bruce Springsteen, not exiled Atlanta Spirit co-owner Steve Belkin.

"By far, what we've been talking most about is the draft," said 680 The Fan afternoon sports talk co-host John Kincade. "The Hawks in the playoffs are barely a blip on the radar."

When the subject of the Hawks has come up on air, it often has been to bemoan how uncompetitive they have been during the two losses in Boston. They've lost the first two by an average of 21 points (or three touchdowns, for the football-oriented).

Few expected the team with the worst record in these playoffs — the Hawks — to oust the one with the best — the Celtics. But there are lesser goals at hand. "Hopefully playing at home will help a whole lot," said Wilkins, a Hawks vice-president. "What would help more is to get that first playoff win. You get that, it makes everything easier.

"Just win a game, and it could be pandemonium in there [Philips]."

Quite a contrast to the last time these two teams met in the playoffs, 1988, when pandemonium was a given. In a classic Eastern Conference semifinal Game Seven, with Wilkins scoring 47 and Boston's Larry Bird 34, the Celtics eliminated the Hawks. Atlanta's support of the Hawks was never a question in the '80s, and for that series, there was a constant, cicada-like buzz.

"It was great then. It was a different time. We were winning 50 games a year. It was a fun time in there [the old Omni]," Wilkins said.

"The fans here want to get back to that. They're waiting for this team to do well. They've been waiting for eight years."

Minimal buzz surrounding playoff tickets

Finishing the regular season eight games under .500, entering the postseason on a three-game losing streak, the Hawks did not exactly inspire community-wide confidence. That has been apparent at the ticket window — the first NBA playoff game in Philips history had not sold out as of Friday. Celtic green might be a common color in the seats tonight.

College Park's James Salmond bought a ticket for Saturday's game and is about as excited as the circumstances allow. "I'd like to see the arena packed. I'll root my Hawks on," he said. He was sitting in Stats, the trendy sports bar near Philips just before the tip-off of Game Two. Hawks talk was not sweeping the place. It was all business attire in there, not a Josh Smith jersey in sight.

This series begs caution and understatement. Salmond said a Hawks representative made a follow-up call to him to see if he would like to lock up refundable tickets to that same seat all the way through the NBA Finals. His reaction: "But they're playing Boston. I've got better uses for my money than that."

Attorney Randy Kessler, a longtime season-ticket holder, is savoring simply the chance to see his team in a playoff setting. He's expecting plenty of local celebrities at courtside and ample excitement in the building. Holding onto a follicle of hope, he says, "One win would be fun. Even a close game would make us feel like we deserved to be there."

Kessler thought enough of this opportunity to change a business flight in order to be on hand for Monday night's Game Four. He hasn't even looked at his schedule beyond that, however. Nobody — be he committed fan or someone just kicking the tires on the bandwagon — is getting carried away yet by these Hawks.