Boston —- Sometimes a game is just too big. Sometimes the opponent is just too good. Sure, it would have been nice if the Hawks could have pushed the Celtics in Game 7, but they'd already pushed the No. 1 seed to the wall. This series ended with a crashing loss, but in the long run it will be seen as a shining victory.

We Atlantans have spent years inventing ways to ignore the Hawks. After the three games in Philips Arena, we can ignore them no longer. They're a real team again, a real team with a real future.

"I've always felt the city wants good basketball," said Josh Childress, a Hawk since 2004. "Wherever I go, whether it's the mall or the movies —- or the Publix on South Cobb Drive —- people say, 'We're cheering for you guys.' It was just a matter of us stepping up to the plate."

OK, so they sat down in Game 7. They lost by 34 points. They couldn't muster any offense —- they made 15 baskets, five of which were follows or tips, in the first three quarters —- and were unprepared for the Celtics' defensive ferocity. You'd think, having played the C's six times in the past two weeks, the Hawks would have seen everything their opponent had to offer, but they hadn't seen how a really good team responds to a Game 7.

They have now. They saw how first Kevin Garnett and then Ray Allen, All-Stars both, dove for the same loose ball with their team leading by 34 points. Or how James Posey, who'd played on an NBA champion with Miami, outhustled Zaza Pachulia to another loose ball a minute later. The Hawks had gotten all the loose balls in the three games in Philips, but not in Game 7. This game simply meant more to the Celtics.

"We didn't have it today, for some strange reason," Joe Johnson said, but there was nothing strange about Game 7. The team that had won 29 more games over the regular season prevailed. Relieved Hub fans will now turn their attention to LeBron James and Round 2. We Atlantans, however, shouldn't forget what we just saw.

"We played a great series," said Michael Gearon Jr., one of the team's several owners. "We established some respect for ourselves around the league. Are we disappointed to lose? Absolutely, but it doesn't take away the direction we're going, and that's to be a premier team for a long period of time."

There are issues, yes. The Hawks should have won more than 37 regular-season games, and this series cast doubt on Mike Bibby as the final answer at point guard. (He was terrible again Sunday, managing one basket and two assists.) Mike Woodson mightn't be the coach to take this team any higher, and general manager Billy Knight seems to have lost the faith of his employers.

But the bigger picture is far brighter. The Hawks proved they have enough talent to scare the imperial Celtics, and their city proved it's fully capable of going nuts for good basketball. We weren't sure of either of those things until now.

Said Woodson: "[The series] definitely changes the perception. ... I think our fans like our product, and it really doesn't get much better than those three games in Atlanta. ... Basketball is back in Atlanta in a big way."

Even as his Celtics put the Hawks —- finally! —- in the rearview mirror, their coach was willing to acknowledge the turning of a corner in the city he once called home. Of the Hawks, Doc Rivers said: "They're a fun team to watch, very similar to us [meaning the Hawks in late 1980s]. If you're a basketball fan and you were in that arena [meaning Philips], you want to come back."

Then Rivers said something else: "For this to be a quick series, I thought we had to win Game 3. Because once that athletic team awakened, we were going to have to deal with them."

After a decade of hard slumber, the Hawks have begun to stir. From here, we all have to deal with them.

mbradley@ajc.com