DEL.ICIO.USChildress, Pachulia provide spark Hawks have badly needed
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 05/03/08
"Shock the World" has been the Hawks battle cry.
On the strength of some strong play from the reserves, the underdog, under .500 and under appreciated team did just that.
 Rich Addicks/Staff | ||
| Acie Law IV drives over the Celtics' Leon Powe. The Hawks rookie chipped in with a field goal, rebound and two assists in just over five minutes. | ||
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Scrapping for loose balls, making key passes and scoring down low Friday, the Hawks reserves — led by forward Josh Childress — helped to force a Game 7 in the first-round playoff series against the Boston Celtics.
"I think us running the way that we did and us not backing down, frustrated them a little bit," said Childress after the 103-100 shocker before largest crowd in Hawks history at Philips Arena. "That obviously generated some good energy for us."
The Celtics, winners of 66 regular-season games, now find themselves facing elimination against the Hawks, winners of 37 regular-season games. Game 7 in Sunday in Boston.
"Our bench was a big factor in this game," forward Josh Smith said. "Due to some foul trouble I had to sit on the bench, but I knew that my teammates were going to be able to pull it through."
Throughout the series, when Hawks coach Mike Woodson has turned to his bench, he just wanted his starters to get a break.
But with the season on the line, Woodson needed a little bit more from his reserves — and they delivered.
The Celtics keyed their defense to stop Joe Johnson and left the reserves open at times.
"Our bench was big tonight," Johnson said. "Josh Childress has been great for us all year. Acie Law came in and gave us some big minutes."
The reserves took the challenge. It was the clear the Celtics didn't feel the Hawks bench could do enough to force Game 7.
"Joe is our main guy and they were sending two and three guys at him," ZaZa Pachulia said. "With that type of situation it's a little bit harder to score 20 points a game, so somebody had to step it up."
The reserves went into attack mode on the Celtics.
"We did it, now they have to think about everything," Pachulia said. "Joe and the other guys. It's going to be tough to deal with all of this. With everybody in attack mode, it's hard to guard everybody. It's good thing."
Childress led the bench brigade with 15 points, six rebounds and three assists. Pachulia was solid in the paint with nine points and six rebounds, including four on the offensive glass.
Law IV came off the bench to throw two big assists.
The Hawks bench outscored the Celtics bench 26-19 and out-rebounded them 13-11 (7-1 on the offensive boards).
"Josh Childress came in and really gave us a lot of toughness," Al Horford said. "He got some tough rebounds. We really got stops when we needed to."
Even forward Solomon Jones and guard Mario West, back from a family emergency, made first-half appearances.
The only players not to take the court were Salim Stoudamire and Jeremy Richardson.
"Coach always talk about being ready," Jones said. "When I'm on the bench, I'm just thinking about being ready and bring some energy. I'm just trying to do whatever to spark the team."
The Hawks trailed by 12 points, 32-20, at the end of the first quarter.
On the strength of the bench's contributions they cut the lead to one, 50-49 at halftime. The Hawks bench outscored the Celtics bench 15-10 in the first half and out-rebounded them 7 to 5.
Going into Game 6, the Hawks' reserves had been resoundingly outplayed. In Boston victories in Games 1, 2 and 5, they were outscored 36-22, 28-19 and 35-14.
The bench, Pachulia in particular, was forced into extended action because of Woodson's early two-foul rule.
Horford picked up his second foul with 9.9 seconds left in the second quarter and did not play the entire second quarter.
Woodson has an early two-foul rule that equates to major bench time, even with the season on the line.
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