Hawks VS Celtics PLAYOFFS INTENSITY RIVALRY continues tonight at Phillips, ESPN game preview

Hawks VS Celtics RENEWED RIVALRY ESPN gameday

Yess! As an ATLien and a lifelong Hawks fan, I, along with the entire city of Atlanta, the NBA, and the entire sportsnation is very excited about this game. Whoever aint, isn't a fan of NBA basketball, there is so much beautiful symbolism to tonights game, there's no question this is the game of the night in the NBA (finally, for once).

I am one of the biggest fan of the Atlanta Hawks, not in a crazy, paint my face kind of way, but more like i am with the team every step of their journey of each game in the 82 game season, i predicted 47 wins in the pre-season, i changed that to the Hawks having their first 50 win season since the 1997-1998 season after seeing the Hawks 11-6 first month start, 12 of those 18 without Josh Smith. I have attended a couple games this season (Philly, Nets, Memphis), and its always a excellent experience, i had big plans to take lots of pictures, talk to fans and ESPN, and really be involved with as much festivities as i could at this game.

But, i have just as much trouble as the next fan getting tickets to games, and i am probably unable to make tonights game (kills self), but i am going to cover as much possible from the outside Phillips festivities, and the game itself, postgame and everything. So to begin, this is the grand preview to tonights RENEWED RIVALRY, Hawks VS Celtics Game 9.

Sekou Smith feels like me, this game is worth all the hype! in another excellent entry he talks to the Hawks players about the monstrosity of a game this is, and what it all means:

• Josh Smith: “It might be a little rivalry now. They know they can’t take us lightly. They play their hardest when they step out on the court with us. And we do the same. It’s like a respect level but also competitive nature that we’re going to win this game and they feel the same way.”

• Zaza Pachulia: “We feel like it’s a game we should win because we’re playing at home in front of our crowd. I know it’s easy to say we owe them and all that to get everybody pumped up. The bottom line is this game should be special, but in a good way.”

• Marvin Williams: “It might be impossible not to get too hyped up for this game. We played them as well as we ever played them in Boston earlier this year. Now we come back here. They’re playing well and we’re playing well at home. Something’s got to give.”

• Mike Woodson: “After the first couple of games I truly believe we were somewhat scared. A lot of guys that had never been in the playoffs were feeling the heat a little bit. Mike [Bibby] tried to take some of the heat off with the quotes he made in that series early trying to switch the heat onto himself because he had been in playoff situations.”

• Mike Bibby: “Everybody thought we were going to get walked over. But we had a chance to shock everybody. We never really played well in Boston but we played great here. Knowing that everybody was against us and to play like we did was satisfying. But we wanted to win. We have to take that next step.”

Even the Celtics concede that there is a little pressure on themselves to win there.

• Rajon Rondo: “They are a tough team. They just beat Cleveland at home so they’re pretty confident right now. They’re waiting on us. It’s a tough game. We have to try to go in there and focus and try to get a win in Atlanta. We didn’t do it at all last year instead of in the regular-season. But I’m sure this will be a playoff type of game, very physical. Probably go to the wire.”

• Ray Allen: “Atlanta is ready and waiting and they’ve been promoting this for a while. The building is going to be a playoff atmosphere so we need to go down there with a different mind set.”

• Paul Pierce: “This is going to be a whole different ball club that we saw last year during the regular season. It’s going to be more like the team we saw in the playoffs. We have to come with our A game or we won’t be walking out of there with a win. The way they’re playing at home, they’re playing at a high level.”

• Leon Powe: “I think it’s the crowd. I think they all feed off the crowd. When they got their crowd going, waving towels and doing all kinds of crazy stuff, and they start hitting all kinds of shots, even with our hands up, contested, I think it has a lot to do with the crowd.”

 

CelticsBlog picks the brain of the #1 Hawks blogger Brett LeGree AKA Hoopinion AKA PeachtreeHoops.com, this is a great interview, very insightful for Celtics and Hawks fans alike, i learned some things about you Brett:

Hoopinion:  I'm less of a Joe Johnson fan than most Hawks fans as I thought (and still think) that the team paid too high a price to acquire him.  That certainly doesn't mean that I think he's a mediocre player, just that it's not possible to build a championship contender if your best player is Joe Johnson.  That is not my most popular opinion.

Wow, i mean, not many Hawks fans are thinking championship this season, but damn,  "it's just not possible to build a championship contender if your best player is Joe Johnson"? I'm sure the Hawks team and organization would beg to differ, and everyone is entitled to their realistic opinion, but here's what i think about Joe Johnson. Joe is the 3rd best SG in the NBA, undisputed. Scoring, rebounding, passing, leadership, decision-making, leadership, durability, basketball IQ, he is everything a team could ask for in a shooting guard franchise player. Of course we all know he is a great player, forget statistics for once, in his 3 seasons with the Hawks he has taken a franchise that was the worst in the league to a legitimate eastern conference contender. 

The Hawks gave up too much in that trade? Joe Johnson for Boris Diaw + 1st round pick in 2007, 2008. What did those 2 picks turn out to be? Alando Tucker and Robin Lopez, are any of those franchise players? How about Boris Diaw, i'm sure he is a franchise player, being the 2005-2006 MIP and all, right? Look, the Suns are killing themselves right now for trading Joe, the Suns could have been to the NBA Finals at least twice by now if they did not make that trade. Joe was a great complimentary player, but his destiny was to be a franchise player, if it wasn't the Hawks, Joe would have gone to another team to be the man eventually, but Atlanta, the Hawks organization, and Joe felt that they were a perfect marriage, and it has been increasingly every season, shoot, the only reason the Hawks didn't go to the playoffs in 2006-2007 is because Joe got injured and missed the last 25 games of the season. 

Joe Johnson is better than Manu Ginobili because Manu is 3rd in a "big three" system that he has stayed in his entire career. Of course, manu is a 3x NBA champion, a great scorer and a pesky defender ( i personally hate his flopping style), but he has never led his team anywhere without the other 2, and Yes he is very efficient but he has never even scored 20 ppg, how can he be better than Joe when Joe has done that consistently for 4 seasons?

 

Joe Johnson is better than Tracy McGrady in every way. Who is Tracy McGrady? is he a great playmaker, explosive scorer that led the league in scoring two seasons in a row with Orlando (32.0, 28.0), or is he that inconsistent, weak effort, weak bodied, injury prone forward who has never ever won a playoff series on 2 teams with 3 appearances on each. Of course, Joe Johnson hasn't won a playoff series by himself yet either, but Joe clearly wins in durability, shooting (FG%, 3ptFG%, FT%), defending, passing, and leadership.

 

Joe Johnson is not yet better than Vince Carter. Vince Carter should have been one of the greatest SG in the game today, and he is definetly top 10, but he is not the great player he could have been. One of the most explosive scorers of our generation, he jumps over the moon at will, he has averaged 20+ ppg every season of his career, outside of he as a rookie in toronto. Vince Carter was an intricate part of a "big three" Jason Kidd, Vince Carter, and Richard Jefferson, that made the Finals 2 years in a row, they didn't win, but until Joe makes it at least past the 1st round, he is not better than the great Vince Carter.

In conclusion, I just want it to be known that I believe that Joe Johnson is the 3rd best shooting guard in the league, and he can lead the Hawks to a championship, or at least to the Finals in the next 3 seasons, I see that as a realistic possibility.

But in order to prove we are on that level or show that we are ascending to that level, we gotta stop this streak TODAY.

Hawks 98 Celtics 93

Go Hawks!