The Celtics don’t look like juggernauts this time, but they want another ring. The Hawks are no longer neophytes, and they want more than just another second-round exit.
It has been four years since the upstart Hawks put a scare into the Celtics. The supporting casts have changed, but the main antagonists remain from that 2008 Eastern Conference playoffs skirmish.
The Hawks have stuck with the same nucleus of players through a cycle of triumphs and failures. Critics howled that the Hawks needed major change, but the team’s management insisted this group, like others before they won titles, had to feel the sting of setbacks before they could succeed.
And now that philosophy will be put to the test against the Celtics, who are the most hardened and accomplished team of them all. Starting Sunday at Philips Arena, the Hawks get a chance to show how far they’ve come.
“We’ve matured more as a team, as individuals,” Hawks guard Joe Johnson said. “I just think the outcome is going to be a lot different this time because of the experience. We’ve been through some tough stretches in the playoffs. I think it’s only made us stronger.
“Now that we know what to expect and the intensity level we have to play at to win, we are ready.”
The Hawks were not ready in 2008. They basically made the playoffs because they didn’t finish quite as badly as the Pacers while wheezing to 37 victories.
The Hawks were set up as easy prey for the Celtics, who had rolled to a league-high 66 victories with their new Big Three of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen. But Atlanta made Boston sweat, and Philips Arena rocked until the Hawks finally succumbed in seven games.
The Celtics would win the NBA championship that year. The Hawks began a new era as postseason mainstays after nearly a decade of futility, the first step in what has been a series of incremental advances.
They defeated Dwyane Wade’s Heat in 2009 only to be swept by LeBron James’ Cavaliers. The Hawks outlasted Milwaukee in 2010, but were blasted by Dwight Howard’s Magic by an NBA-record margin. They vanquished their Orlando demons last year and stood up to the Bulls before Derrick Rose sent them home.
The Hawks are 2-12 in the East semifinals in the past three years. The team’s owners and general manager Rick Sund pressed ahead with Johnson, Josh Smith and Al Horford as the core.
“You get some scar tissue,” Sund said. “Each year you got better, but we brought in eight new faces, too.”
The Hawks are deeper than they’ve been since 2008. No longer do they rely on just one, perhaps two, reliable reserves. There are bench players who can score, rebound, defend and pass. Coach Larry Drew has some pieces.
Sund assembled the team’s bench during the lockout-truncated preseason by singing veterans to minimum-salaried contracts. He wanted players who had earned reputations over long careers.
“Every one of our players on our bench can play,” he said. “So there’s a confidence with our core with the new guys, even though they are new, because they recognize they have been players in the league.”
It could turn out that the Hawks need big moments from old pros Jannero Pargo, Willie Green, Vladimir Radmanovic and Tracy McGrady. The same may be true for point guard Jeff Teague, who is in his first full season as the starter after breaking out in last year’s postseason against the Bulls.
But for the Hawks to get past Boston, they’ll be led by the mainstays who have been here since 2008.
Johnson will have find away to defeat aggressive double teams. Smith will have to be an efficient scorer as well as a beast with help on defense and in rebounding. Zaza Pachulia will have to match Boston’s physical style if and when he returns from a foot injury.
It won’t be easy for the Hawks. Chicago and Miami are considered the top teams in the East for good reasons, yet they lack Boston’s championship pedigree.
“When the smoke cleared you knew they were going to be there,” Drew said of the Celtics. “They are a veteran team, and they know how to win. For us, I think it’s a great test. If you want to be the best, you have got to beat the best.”
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