A Tale Of Two Columns

Shank on Tuesday, after the Boston Celtics lost Game 5 of their first round series against the Atlanta Hawks on an incredible shot by Trae Young:

The Celtics may still win it all, but this loss was about as bad as it gets

Perhaps as soon as Thursday, Boston fans will be able to look back and laugh. Maybe in six weeks we’ll remember this one as the night the immature, still-without-rings Celtics finally woke up and realized they’re not as good as they think they are. Maybe this will prove to be the epiphany — the moment in which the Celtics finally understood something so simple and so huge.

But this is not that moment. Right now, in real time, this can only be described as one of the greatest gag jobs in Boston sports history. Call it Atlanta’s revenge for 28-3. It was a collapse worthy of the pre-2004 Red Sox. At this moment, the 2023 Celtics are Parquet Posers.

Graced with the presence of the Tomato Can Hawks (41-41), the mighty Celtics — Vegas favorites to win the NBA championship — Tuesday coughed up a 13-point lead (at home!) in the final six minutes of a potential Game 5 clincher and lost to the undermanned Hawks, 119-117. Trae Young’s calm, 30-foot pull-up with 1.8 seconds left stunned the Celtics and NBA America. The unraveling Celtics never got another shot off.

Pretty strong words, eh?

Shank, last night when the Celtics finally buried the Hawks:

The Celtics finished the job and beat the Hawks, so now everybody can relax — until Monday

Everybody can calm down now. The Celtics have advanced to the second round of the NBA playoffs and will open the conference semifinals Monday on Causeway Street against their time-tested rivals, the Philadelphia 76ers.

This did not come easily. The widely-mocked Hawks beat the Celtics twice in the first round, including a dramatic Game 5 comeback at the Garden.

Celtic Nation was somewhat demoralized by that fourth-quarter fold, but the Green Team rallied Thursday in Atlanta, breaking open a tight game with a 11-0 run, clinching a 128-120 Game 6 victory. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, the two Jays who folded late in Game 5, took control of a frenetic clincher — a game that featured 15 ties and 22 lead changes.

“I thought our guys did a great job at the end of just locking in,” said Boston’s rookie coach-under-seige (sic - Ed.), Joe Mazzulla. " . . . Definitely different from Game 5.”

Gotta love it - the Boston Globe's 'ace' sports columnist unironically calling the Atlanta Hawks 'widely mocked' while not telling you (or hoping you don't remember) he was one of the ones doing the mocking. This is one of the constant critiques of Shank here and elsewhere once blogging took off back in the early 2000's. And - he's completely shameless, like someone's not gonna figure this out.

Do you have any doubts as to which sports columnist just might be laying siege (correct spelling) to the current head coach of the Celtics? Yes, that's a rhetorical question.

Toys In The Attic

Game 2 of the first round series between the Atlanta Hawks and the Boston Celtics is proceeding as expected, with the Celtics winning the first two games. Shank and Cedric Maxwell think it's all too easy:

Celtics dismantle Hawks again in what is becoming the very definition of toying with your opponent

Cedric Maxwell, now part of the Celtics’ broadcast team, has plans when the Celts play Games 3 and 4 against the Hawks in Atlanta this weekend.

“Going to visit with my old friend Dominique [Wilkins],” Max said early Tuesday evening. “I’ll probably go to my favorite shoe store, Friedman’s. Oh, and on Saturday I might have to go to the hardware store to buy a broom.’’

Ah yes. In the event of a sweep, one certainly needs a broom.

The Celtics built another big lead (22 points) and beat the Hawks, 119-106, at TD Garden Tuesday in Game 2 of their first-round, ho-hum playoff series. Derrick White scored 26 for the Green and Jayson Tatum was good for 29. Games 3 and 4 are Friday and Sunday at State Farm Arena in Atlanta. If form holds, Boston’s next home game will be Game 1 of the conference semifinals, probably against Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers.

While not as obvious as in previous years, you can sense that Shank is setting up expectations that the Celtics can't live up to, so he can take a monster shit on them if / when they lose a series.

Resistance Is Futile

So sayeth The Shankster about the Boston Celtics' first-round matchup with the Atlanta Hawks:

We’ll resist the temptation to declare this Celtics-Hawks series over, but . . .

The Celtics toyed with the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday, bolting to a 32-point, third-quarter lead, then cruising to a 112-99 victory in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.

This is where we resist the temptation to declare the series over in a four game sweep.

I was sitting on press row (courtside in the old days!) on Memorial Day in 1985 when the defending world champion Celtics beat the Lakers, 148-114, in Game 1 of the Finals. Scott Wedman came off the bench to make 11 of 11 shots and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar looked about 147 years old. I’m pretty sure I compared Kareem to an over-the-hill Willie Mays flopping around Shea Stadium in the 1973 World Series.

Two weeks later, the Lakers beat the Celtics by 11 points in Game 6 to win the NBA championship in Boston Garden. Kareem was named Finals MVP.

Lesson learned, then!

Living In The Past

With two off days between Games 1 and 2 of the Hawks - Celtics series, Shank kills some time and takes another walk down memory lane.

ATLANTA — The Celtics and Hawks are forever entwined in NBA lore. It was the St. Louis Hawks who generously traded their first-round draft pick to Boston in the spring of 1956. That pick became Bill Russell, and the Celtics’ first championship — led by rookie Russell — was won against the Hawks in the spring of 1957. The Celtics and Hawks met again in the ’58 Finals, with the Hawks prevailing in six games.

Danny Ainge and Dominique Wilkins don’t know very much about what went down between these two franchises more than a half-century ago, but back in the golden days of the 1980s, they were involved in two of the more memorable moments in Celtics-Hawks playoff history.

One moment was goofy: Atlanta center Tree Rollins bit the finger of Celtics guard Ainge as the two wrestled on the old Garden parquet floor in the final game of a 1983 first-round series won by the Celtics.

He also mentions the Bird - Wilkins shootout in Game 7 of the 1988 series, which you can watch here.