NBA Playoffs Rundown

Atlanta 97 Boston 92: Wow, welcome back to the NBA, Atlanta Hawks. The Hawks managed to tie up the series with the Boston Celtics with this remarkable win. This was such an incredible game and I have a ton of thoughts on it.

Now the Atlanta Hawks have no business being tied 2-2 in this series with the Celtics but a funny thing happened before Game 3 of this series to a young and inexperienced team that was supposed to get swept by the Celtics: they grew up.

Yup, that's right, a young and inexperienced squad featuring Joe Johnson, Josh "The Game" Smith, and Al Horford is really not that scary when they play like a young and inexperienced team but I felt from the beginning that this series would really help the Hawks. I just expected it to help them next year and not this year but the Hawks grew up before Game 3 by getting tough and physical with the Celtics and utilizing their great athleticism to cause all sorts of problems for Boston. Now add Mike Bibby to that young and athletic mix and I fully expect this team to be a major player in East next season.

The Hawks are back and Boston had better get their act together because this Hawks team always had talent but NOW they have the experience and confidence to use that talent to win playoff basketball games and I have to say this team learned awfully quick what it needed to do.

I love the intangibles that Al Horford brings to the table. You know the kid is a winner and I'm sure that he and Mike Bibby have had a big influence on this team. Now maybe I'm wrong and the Celtics are just overrated but I think this Hawks team is for real and I think they grew up in this series and this won't be the last time we'll be hearing from them regardless if the win this series or not.

Now as far as this game goes, Joe Johnson absolutely took over this game in 4th quarter as he scored 20 points in the 4th quarter down the stretch. I have no idea why the Celtics left Ray Allen on him. I would have either doubled him or put James Posey on him and I think the decision to leave Allen on him cost them the game. Johnson finished the game with 35 points and 6 assists. Josh Smith was also huge in this game 28 points, 6 rebounds, and 7 blocks.

Looking at the stats for this game there are a few things that stand out. The Celtics had only 10 turnovers to the Hawks 17. The Celtics hit 12 threes to the Hawks 4. The Celtics had 11 steals to the Hawks 4. The Celtics had 26 assists to the Hawks 16. You see a pattern here right? So you're probably wondering how the Hawks won, well they shot 29 of 33 from the free throw line and the Celtics only 10 of 18. So that's basically your game right there because Atlanta shot 11 more free throws then Boston shot all together.

Orlando 102 Toronto 92: Dwight Howard had another dominating game with 21 points and 21 rebounds and the Orlando Magic were able to send Toronto home as the first team to be Gone Fishin'. I said from the beginning that Orlando should win this series in 6 games or less as long as Dwight Howard dominated on both ends of the floor. I said that this is something should happen because Toronto is soft and doesn't have anyone who can stop Howard from dominating. The only person who could stop Howard from doing that is Howard himself and he played exceptionally throughout the series.

Toronto is going home and I'm not surprised because to me they may have been the weakest team in the whole playoffs. I think the 76ers and even maybe the Hawks are better than Toronto right now. They need to get someone down low to help out Chris Bosh or I don't see this team doing much more than losing in the first round ever year.

LA Lakers 107 Denver 101: Sweeeeep! Not much you can say about this one except that Kobe and the Lakers are on a mission. It will definitely be a tougher task in the second round for the Lakers. I'm assuming they will be facing Utah, which is alot more physical and play a better team game than Denver. I am really looking forward to that series and I would imagine that it will go 6 or 7 games. Denver is the second team of the night to be Gone Fishin'.