The Celtics [team stats] are a little too touchy and proud to admit that what they have in Atlanta is a contemporary rival.
But it’s time to embrace all of the vitriol that this matchup seems to produce.
Last night, in a game-altering technical-fest in which coach Doc Rivers was ejected in the third quarter and assistant Armond Hill picked up a third misconduct for good measure, the Hawks beat the Celtics for the third time this season, including the unthinkable - a second straight win at the Garden.
Jamal Crawford, who sank the Celtics with 18 points in 25 minutes last Friday in Atlanta, came back with 17 off the bench last night, including the last six points in his team’s 102-96 win. Joe Johnson erupted with 36 points that included 5-of-7 shooting from downtown and a 12-point fourth quarter.
If there is a more challenging foil in this league than the Hawks, the Celtics haven’t played it yet.
And still their confidence runs amok.
“We still feel we’re the better team,” said an exhausted Paul Pierce [stats], who like the rest of a closing unit that included Glen Davis, Rajon Rondo [stats], Ray Allen and Kendrick Perkins [stats], played the last 19 minutes without a substitution by associate coach Tom Thibodeau, who took over for Rivers.
“The year we won the (2008) championship, we lost four times to Washington. It definitely bothered us, but we’re a better team, and it will show.”
Perkins seconded that emotion.
“It’s not like I fear them,” he said. “I don’t think anyone on this team fears them. They look at us like a rival, but I don’t think we look at them as a rivalry team.”
That much will change in due time, especially if the two meet in the playoffs come spring.
Perhaps the C’s will be healthier by then.
Rasheed Wallace joined Kevin Garnett in the locker room last night with a sore left forefoot.
Replacement starter Brian Scalabrine triggered a fast Celtics start by going 3-for-3 from long range in the first half but never saw the floor down the stretch.
But once Davis was called for a Flagrant 1 takedown of Marvin Williams with 6:16 left in the third, this game turned on its ear. The late whistle by referee Bennett Salvatore brought an enraged Rivers to his feet and earned the Celtics coach two quick whistles of his own.
Shortly after Rivers was led back to the locker room, Hill received a T from referee Marc Davis. The result was four free throws - two from Crawford for the technicals and two more from Williams for the foul - that gave juice to a 10-2 Atlanta run that chopped the Celtics’ lead from 12 points (67-55) to six (67-61).
Crawford’s second trey of the quarter pulled Atlanta even at 75 with 52 seconds left in the third. The Hawks took the lead four times in the last 5:25 of the fourth, with Crawford’s one-man 6-0 run breaking a 96-96 deadlock. From there, the Celtics [team stats] missed their last five shots, including three from Allen.
His starters, plus Davis, clearly were drained by then, but like everything else last night, Rivers was unsure of how the game ever got to that point.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I think with me getting thrown out it kind of left our staff - it happened so quick. It’s almost like (the surprise of losing Wallace for the night). So leaving the guys in that were playing well was probably the safe bet. I don’t know.”
No one else did, either.
“They compete,” Perkins said of the Hawks. “Other than that, I thought we gave that game away. There were a lot of mistakes that kind of helped them.”
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