Atlanta vs Boston turning into a series
Much like last year when the Dallas Mavericks had the best record in basketball and lost, the Boston Celtics are earily following down the same path. With the Atlanta Hawks winning the two games in Atlanta it now makes this a best of 3 series and the Hawks have a legit shot at winning. Teams like Boston and Los Angeles, that won the conference regular season, need to steamroll first round opponents and not waste any energy. Los Angeles did their part by sweeping Denver, but Boston is struggling with the lowly Hawks.
Atlanta was not a .500 team but got much better when the dealt for Mike Bibby. In this series, Bibby is decent but the real stars are Joe Johnson and Josh Smith. Both players have stepped up their games and causing problems for the Celtics. I’ve been very impressed with the play of Smith especially who is a matchup nightmare for most teams. He’s a more athletic version of Andrei Kirilenko and the guy can defend nearly every position.
Last night, the Celtics were obviously rattled and couldn’t quite keep their composure when they needed it. Joe Johnson proved to be too much and nobody on the Celtics could stop him. Johnson used to be a Celtic and he might be trying to show them they shouldn’t have given him up.
In the other series, I am so sick of the Wizards crying about Lebron James. They are playing him physically and he’s answering the call. Deshawn Stevenson is a scrub and honestly couldn’t average 15 a game in another country. To even try to taunt and get at Lebron is ridiculous and reaks of jealousy.
The Jazz will have to play well to beat Houston tonight. The Suns are doomed to lose in San Antonio the next game and the Hornets need to reclaim homecourt. I love the playoffs.
