More Hawks Praise

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They created this monster

By Marc J. Spears

Globe Staff / November 13, 2008

The Celtics helped create the newest monster in the NBA in the Atlanta Hawks.

The Celtics needed a clutch jumper by Paul Pierce with 0.5 seconds left to knock off the Hawks, 103-102, last night at TD Banknorth Garden.

That was against a Hawks team that was without athletic starting forward Josh Smith. That was against a Hawks team that was playing on the road on back-to-back nights after arriving in Boston from Chicago at about 2:30 a.m. yesterday. And that was against a Hawks team that entered the game with a 6-0 record.

"A great player hit a great shot," Hawks coach Mike Woodson said. "But I told my guys, and they never quit and they got in late this morning, that, 'We came out and competed from the beginning to the end.' I hated for the game to end.

"I like that. That game was played beautiful on both ends of the floor by both teams. Both teams wanted to win. And they made a great play at the end."

This monster was born against the Celtics in the first round of the playoffs last season.

The Celtics entered last postseason with an NBA-best 66 wins, a swagger, and championship dreams. As a weak eighth seed and winless against Boston in the regular season, the Hawks were supposed to be nothing more than a little stone for the Celtics to kick aside on the road to a title.

The script played the way it was expected to the first two games in Boston. But after Atlanta won all three of its home games by using athleticism, tough defense, and energy from a wild home crowd, the series was surprisingly pushed to a deciding seventh game in Boston. The Celtics ended up winning easily but, nonetheless, a monster was born.

"The Celtics forced us to have to defend," Woodson said. "And if we didn't defend, we don't win that series in Atlanta. They forced us to play the way that they played and it became a competitive series."

Hawks center Al Horford, a 2008 All-Rookie first team pick, said, "It gave us a lot of confidence. We have a lot of young guys, so it gave us a lot of confidence. It just made us better."

There was optimism but not much confidence in Atlanta at the start of the season.

The Hawks' breakthrough playoff performance lost luster when reserve forward Josh Childress departed to Greece and Smith actually signed with Memphis before his contract was matched. TNT and ESPN didn't believe, either, as Atlanta had only one nationally televised home game (Dec. 17 against Boston). The Hawks also had veteran point guard Mike Bibby, acquired last year in midseason, for an entire training camp and added two veteran newcomers in Maurice Evans and Flip Murray in the offseason. Even so, the national media didn't forecast Atlanta being more than a one-and-done playoff team not expected to win the Southeast Division.

But entering their first game in Boston since the playoffs, the Hawks were the Eastern Conference's only perfect team at 6-0. There were statement wins in New Orleans and Orlando. Only two games have been played at home. Suddenly, the Hawks yanked the spotlight and shined it on themselves. Sports Illustrated visited the Hawks the past two days, ESPN is interviewing any Hawk it can, and Woodson held court with the media pregame for about 15 minutes.

"People are just trying to figure out where we are growing as a team and where we are getting better and you can see that with the way we've been playing," Horford said.

The Hawks, who have the NBA's third-best defense, now play smothering defense like the Celtics. Like Boston, the Hawks have several star players, including 2008 All-Star Joe Johnson, Horford, Smith, and Bibby, with solid role players Marvin Williams, Zaza Pachulia, Murray, and Evans. Like Boston, Atlanta is coming out hard nightly and is showing poise in the clutch. And that swagger that Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen brought to the Celtics, Atlanta has that now, too.

"The swagger is there," Horford said. "We got that swag. We feel pretty confident."Sure, it's early in the season. But this talented, athletic, tough, and more experienced Hawks squad is much more ferocious now than in April. And this is a monster the Celtics will likely see down the line.

"We kind of just want to go out there and play the game the right way and let people know we are serious," Horford said. "That's what we've been doing. And tonight, even though we fell short, we still came out and gave it all we had."

Said Woodson, "We've grown a lot since last season, thanks to the Celtics."