Three words were all the Hawks' coaching staff wanted players to remember after Saturday's emotional win over Boston.

"Don't be satisfied."

They repeated it over and over again during the chaotic postgame locker room celebration. There were more well-wishers on hand than players, coaches and staffers combined following their 102-93 victory over the Celtics in Game 3 of their best-of-seven Eastern Conference playoff series. Boston leads, 2-1.

They made sure to whisper that message to each player Saturday, leaving them with that one final reminder before they headed out into the city for an embrace nine years in the making.

It was even written on a board in the front of the locker room, leaving little room for misinterpretation, let alone any other inspirational words of wisdom.

As magical as the moment was in Game 3, tonight's Game 4 showdown against the Celtics at Philips Arena, is just as crucial to the Hawks' plans of playing through the end of the week.

"The board says it all," Hawks forward Josh Smith said after a light Sunday morning practice. "We can't be satisfied with winning just one game. And coming back in here [Sunday] morning and walking through some of the these [offensive and defensive] sets, brings it all back down to earth.

"I know we did something. We did something special ... now we have to win again [tonight] and really make this a series."

These Hawks are in uncharted territory. They've played a grand total of three postseason games as a group, all three coming in the last eight days.

And while their youth and inexperience was their undoing in Games 1 and 2 in Boston, it became their biggest strength when they got a chance to dazzle the home folks.

Young legs, along with a jolt of energy from a sellout crowd, carried Smith and Al Horford the entire night. And those two 22-year-olds carried the Hawks, their slash-and-bruise routine being too much for the Celtics to handle all at once.

Dialing up another emotional, energy-filled performance is the task now. And one that the Hawks realize will be extremely difficult under the circumstances.

"This series is still 2-1 in their favor," Horford said. "That's why I got it all out of my system last night. We came in and made some adjustments, watched film and we're back on track for Game 4. We can't sleep on this team. It is just one game."

One more than anyone expected the Hawks to get after they were embarrassed in Games 1 and 2 in Boston and lost all three regular-season matchups with the Celtics.

The Celtics are still in control of the series. They're still the favorite trading punches with a huge underdog.

If the Hawks win another game that's when things could really get interesting. Before Saturday folks were wondering if the Hawks would win a game.

"It's disappointing, but it's the nature of the beast if you will," Celtics All-Star Kevin Garnett said after Saturday's sudden reversal of fortunes. "They are at home. They play real well here. We anticipated that. We beat them [soundly] the first two games so at some point you expect them to make some adjustments.

"[Today's] a big game for us, that's just what it is. Monday's going to be a huge game.

A huge game going along with the same script Hawks coach Mike Woodson had hoped before the start of the series.

"We just had to handle our business at home," he said. "I keep telling these guys that when you're in a playoff series and a team has home-court advantage they have to take care of business.

"I was so anxious to get to the game just to see how we would respond, in regards to our home court and see if we would answer the bell, and we did. Our guys stepped up from beginning to end and did what they had to do to secure that win. [Today's] another day. Another big game. We know we're going to play at least five games. If we can win another one, now the pressure's back on them."