11:36 - The first good sign for the Hawks - Josh Smith thought about launching a long-range jumper, then decided against it and took it into the paint where he drew a foul against Paul Pierce. So far, so good.11:00 - The Boston fans are letting Bibby know exactly how they feel, and in the meantime, we are seeing our first real sign of playoff intensity as Josh Smith went barreling into Pierce on his way to the basket. Words were exchanged before cooler heads prevailed, but this game is already off to an incredibly physical start.
9:45 - The Celtics call a timeout to get Pierce out of the game - he has gone back to the locker room for some reason (presumably the result of the hard foul by Joe and Josh). 9:00 - Bibby makes his first shot. Thank you. It's 5-5.
8:15 - Josh Smith throws one down with authority. 7-5 Atlanta, and the Hawks look much more at ease in this game. Unfortunately, Joe Johnson just picked up his second foul, so he'll come out for Josh Childress. It will be very interesting to see how long we can afford to keep him on the bench.
7:01 - Mike Bibby is at the FT line, where he calmly sinks a pair of foul shots. If the crowd was supposed to affect him, it hasn't so far.
6:11 - Kendrick Perkins is losing the battle with Bibby so far, as he just picked up his second foul and heads to the bench. I don't know if this helps or hurts the Hawks, as I think his replacement, Leon Powe, is a better player.
5:20 - It's a timeout, and the Hawks offense is sputtering a bit as the Celtics just forced them into a 24-second violation without even a shot attempt. We just got a release on press row saying Paul Pierce has a lower back strain, but he is expected to return. Umm, good for him?
4:41 - Crap - Horford just picked up his second foul. One thing he's going to need to learn as he moves forward in this league is how to sell his post-moves better to officials. I don't necessarily think he deserves some of the charges he gets called for, but when he lowers his shoulder into his defender the contact is so deliberate it's rare the call will go in his favor. The Celtics just got a wide-open dunk for Rajon Rondo, and it's now 15-9 in Boston's favor. No reason to panic, but Atlanta has got to get some offense going.
2:49 - It's not going well right now. The Celtics just reeled off 13 straight points before Marvin Williams got a putback jam. 20-11 Celtics.
1:21 - Acie Law is in for Mike Bibby, and just had a nice drive into the lane for an off-hand layup. The Hawks have gone on a mini-run of their own with their bench in the game, and have cut the deficit back to 22-17.
0:00 - Give it up to the Hawks bench ladies and gentlemen! After a stop (and a non-called push off by Ray Allen), Josh Smith hit a streaking (yes, I said streaking) Zaza Pachulia right at the basket, and the big man converted a high-degree-of-difficulty lay-up for the hoop and the harm. Just when it looked like things were going off the rails a bit, Atlanta has climbed back into it and trail 24-20 at the end of 1.
