GAME 5: HAWKS AT CELTICS: Through the looking glass
Playoffs represent a new season. Seldom are they an alternate universe.
But a team that finished the season with 37 wins is holding serve with a team that had 41 wins by the All-Star break.
But a coach thought to be walking the green mile of employment looks at his team after 224 losses and thinks, "Maybe we should run."
But a roster, which for most of the season has resembled misplaced pieces from several puzzles, suddenly forms a picture.
Tuesday was just an off day. It was supposed to be the day after. Four playoff games, four playoff losses, and good night. See you tomorrow for the housecleaning. Instead, the Hawks are 2-2 with the Boston Celtics going into Game 5, and suddenly every assumption has morphed into a question. The direction. The general manager. The coach.
Two wins. Should two wins force us to rethink everything?
Joe Johnson smiled. He thought back to last Wednesday. A 19-point loss to Boston in Game 2 followed a 23-point loss in Game 1, which followed three losses to the Celtics by a combined 43 points during the season. The thought occurred that maybe the NBA should have some sort of mercy rule in the first round.
"I mean, it was tough," Johnson said. "I ain't gonna lie, because they pretty much manhandled us in Boston. But I knew we were pretty good at home, and after we won Game 3 it gave us a lot of confidence going into Game 4. Now we just have to grow up on the road."
Go right ahead. Grow up. Win in Boston. Why not?
What else is down the Rabbit Hole? Oh look —- it's Steve Belkin with a peace treaty. What better place for another Mad Tea Party?
The Hawks over the Celtics. Twice. Does this change everything: who they are, what they can be, what we think we thought?
Even if you expected the Hawks to show some fight in Game 3, you probably didn't expect a win.
Even if you expected a win in Game 3, you certainly expected a loss in Game 4.
Even if you expected a loss in Game 4, you never expected the Hawks, your Hawks, Hades' Hawks, to fall behind 16-3, only to rally —- or trail by 10 in the fourth, only to rally again. And win. Again.
Zaza Pachulia goes all Charles Oakley on Kevin Garnett. Joe Johnson goes from being a great complementary piece to from another planet. Al Horford goes from rookie to leader. Josh Smith goes from familiar mental meltdowns and 19 points in Games 1 and 2 to Mr. Steady and 55 points in Games 3 and 4.
The Celtics suddenly don't look so great. They look old. They look like they're cracking.
Oh that Lewis Carroll. He's got a million of them.
Just go with it. Some things aren't supposed to make sense; they're just meant to be watched and enjoyed. Ride it like you rode Georgia in the SEC tournament. Watch it like you watch a cartoon. Just because a coyote can't really accidentally blow himself up with Acme dynamite, only to be in the next scene lining himself up in a slingshot to catch a road runner, doesn't mean —- you know, like, it can't really happen.
Today is not the day for questions. For starters, the questions would never get answered, certainly not before tip-off. If a 37-45 basketball team that often lacks toughness, courage and resilience suddenly becomes a playoff threat with toughness, courage and resilience, isn't it best just to wait for the next scene?
Maybe after the commercial, they tear apart the 1971-72 Lakers. Zaza to Wilt: "You're going down."
"No one even had us winning any games," Mike Bibby said. "So for it to be 2-2 is big for us. People still aren't giving us a chance. And until we win [the series], they're always going to say, 'I told you so.' "
In truth, regardless of the outcome, nobody projected 2-2. Nobody knows what will happen next. If it's all fantasy, go with it.
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