10:59 - I like what we've done out of the gates - got an open look for Marvin Williams (though he missed it), and then went straight into Al Horford on the low post the next time down. If we get the ball to Big Al a lot tonight, it will be a very positive development. By the way - pre-game intros were awesome.

10:59 - Off two made free throws by Joe Johnson, the Hawks show a little press and force Boston to call a timeout. So far, we are showing that we aren't just going to stick to the same tricks from the first two games. By the way, I'm sitting next to Lang Whitaker for this game, so if I say anything funny, he probably gave it to me.

9:54 - JJ hits a nice runner in the lane and has 4 early points for the Hawks. I like that we are trying to get him going early.

9:08 - Ok, that was sick! Josh Smith just threw down a filthy alley-oop from Mike Bibby, eliciting the biggest reaction from the Philips Arena crowd so far.

8:04 - Make that two ferocious dunks for Josh. The Celtics are hitting though, so it remains 13-10 Boston.

7:13 - Are you kidding me? Bibby gets a steal and slings it ahead to Josh Smith for ANOTHER thunderous dunk. He is averaging one per minute right now, and the crowd gets louder with each one. I am very happy with the way this game is going right now.

6:25 - Josh Smith is straight up killing it right now. First he passed up a jump shot (good), driving into the lane for a baby hook. He missed it, but got the rebound and converted the And-1 to give the Hawks their first lead of the game at 17-16. Smoove has 9 points so far and the Celtics have no answer to him.

5:11 - You put the ball in the post to Al Horford, and good things happen. The defense collapsed on the big man, and he promptly kicked it out to Joe Johnson for a big three to give the Hawks back the lead at 20-18.

3:40 - Josh Smith - did I say he was playing well? Though I don't love it when he lets 'em fly from downtown, Smoove nailed a three from the top of the key to give the Hawks a 25-20 lead, then immediately stole the inbound pass to get another possession for Atlanta, which in itself was great, but add in the fact that he didn't press the action and held up to let his team reset and it was even better.

2:15 - Horford gets two straight buckets, both off assists from Mike Bibby. I haven't mentioned his name much yet tonight, but he already has 5 assists in this quarter. The Celtics are forced to take a timeout, as Atlanta is on a 9-0 run to make it 29-20 good guys.

1:25 - The first real test of the night - Joe picks up his second foul (cheaply, I might add), and goes to the bench. How will the team respond?

0:00 - 32-26 ATL at the end of one. To put in perspective how good this first quarter was, the 32 points was the highest output in a quarter for the team this entire series, and taking out the 26 they scored in a garbage-time fourth quarter in Game 1, it's 10 points more than they've scored in any other quarter so far. The team did everything well - they defended well, they passed well (10 assists on 11 baskets), and they took care of the basketball (only 2 turnovers). This game is a long way from being over, but this is the Hawks team we saw beat the likes of Dallas, Utah, and the Lakers during the regular season.