FINAL: Celtics 104, Hawks 92

By Gary Dzen

April 3, 2009

3 minutes to read

It’s all over (FINAL: Celtics 104, Hawks 92)

All five Celtics starters scored in double figures and Kendrick Perkins matched a career-high with seven blocks as the Celtics defeated the Atlanta Hawks 104-92toni ght at TD Banknorth Garden. The Celtics have now won seven straight regular season games against Atlanta, with the last loss coming on April 10, 2007.

Flip Murray led the Hawks with 20 points. Atlanta shot 36 percent from the field.

Check back in a bit for news and notes from the locker rooms.

Gino time! (2:41 fourth quarter, Celtics 99-83)
Our favorite dancing man is out. I miss KG.

Block party (7:13 fourth quarter, Celtics 91-77)
Kendrick Perkins with his sixth block, leads to a jumper by Mikki Moore on the other end. Timeout, Hawks.

House lights a spark (10:12 fourth quarter, Celtics 84-72)
Why does it seem like Eddie House’s jumpers are always timely? Another one here leads to an Atlanta timeout.

THIRD QUARTER

A little lead (END third quarter, Celtics 80-71)
Rajon Rondo had 13 points in the quarter as the Celtics head into the fourth with a nine-point lead. Rondo is 7-of-10 from the field and has missed only two free throws.

Celeb spotting (1:21 third quarter, Celtics 74-67)
I’ve been told that Rikki Lake is in the house. If you’re curious as to what Lake’s been up to lately, it was announced that she will replace Sharon Osbourne as host for the third installment of VH1’s “Charm School”. Patriots backup QB Kevin O’Connell is also in the house.

Starting to perform (4:37 third quarter, Celtics 67-60)
All five Celtics starters are now in double-figures.

It’s all downtown (8:27 third quarter, Celtics 60-52)
Back-to-back threes by Ray Allen and Paul Pierce have given the Celtics a nice little cushion as we start the second half.

SECOND QUARTER

A rather large Baby (END second quarter, Celtics 52-48)
Glen Davis, bandaged but not broken, paced the Celtics with 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting in the first half. Davis did most of his dirty work inside despite three fouls.

Paul Pierce picked up a technical foul near the end of the half. Pierce had 10 points in the half. Al Horford, Joe Johnson, and Mike Bibby are in double-figures for the Hawks, who are shooting just 35 percent but are staying in this thing.

Baby steps (3:35 second quarter, Celtics 39-35)
Glen Davis has 9 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field.

Timeout (5:33 second quarter, Tied at 33)
Rajon Rondo and Paul Pierce were waiting to check back in, and for good reason. The offense has bogged down with the second unit in the game. Eight turnovers for the C’s.

Foul mood (9:56 second quarter, Hawks 27-25)
Kendrick Perkins, Glen Davis, and Mikki Moore all have two fouls. They’re the only bigs the Celtics have.

FIRST QUARTER

Anybody’s game (END first quarter, Hawks 23-21)
Remember when Al Horford was leading the Hawks with six points early? He’s still got six, one more than Paul Pierce, who is leading the Celtics with five. Five is also the number of turnovers the Celtics have, a problem they are continuing from last game against Charlotte.

Marbury checks in (1:39 first quarter, Hawks 20-19)
Stephon Marbury in for Rondo, giving the Celtics a Marbury-Allen backcourt.

Tony Allen checks in (3:04 first quarter, Celtics 18-16)
Tony Allen just checked in for the first time tonight. Allen missed 22 games with a left thumb injury. He suited up Wednesday against the Bobcats but did not play. His last appearance was Feb. 8 against the Spurs.

Horford leading Hawks (4:49 first quarter, Celtics 13-12)
Al Horford has six points to pace the Hawks. Atlanta is shooting 35 percent but is in no way out of this game. Obviously. It’s been like seven minutes. Just trying to keep this lively.

TA to the locker room…and back (7:56 first quarter, Celtics 7-4)
He hasn’t gotten into the game yet, but Tony Allen just walked back to the locker room, and returned, under his own power. My guess is a bathroom break.

Smith from deep (9:13 first quarter, Celtics 5-4)
Josh Smith just knocked down a 21-footer like he knew what he was doing. That’s a lot different from last year’s playoffs, where the Celtics were begging him to shoot from out there.

Just before tip
Celtics players with a new routine during intros. Lots of twirling. Not sure if there’s a pop culture reference in there somewhere, but if there is I’m not cool enough to identify it. Celtics are also wearing warm-ups made out of some sort of “green” material. They look like the’yre made out of coffee filters.