If KG had stopped passing out of the paint to the perimeter in Game 6, I'm pretty sure they would've closed them out.

The Celtics have demonstrated they can beat all of the teams favored to take them in the post-season, including every one of the vaunted Western Conference juggernauts. The surprises have come from teams like the Wizards (two losses in three days) or Orlando, who have snuck up on them and suckerpunched the Celtics with athleticism and refusal to acknowledge that they're not supposed to win. I have little confidence Mr. Kaufman watched more than the highlight reels of any of the first six games of this series, but the truth is, the Hawks played very, very well in all of their at-home games, and would have notched wins against just about anyone. If we knew who was going to win every contest based on statistics and odds, it wouldn't be much of game, would it?

I like old guys who've never won a title, so I'm cheering for the Celts. And I still want Barkley and Malone and Stockton to suit up, so I can cheer for them again.

Game 6 was weird because Ray Allen, who had been terrific early in the series, was downright awful. And Paul Pierce fouled out on a bizarre sequence of calls. The last of the six was after a shot where the Hawk shooting launched himself into a well-planted KG on the other side of the court.

It is very sad that fouls play such a large role in playoff series, and it is very sad that I do not trust the league to adjudicate fouls fairly. Somehow, in games in Atlanta the Hawks could make all sorts of moves to the basket and never get called for a charge. But the same moves were called as fouls in Boston, and also the Hawks were the ones picking up ticky-tack fouls on the road.

On the whole, the erratic officiating by the NBA makes it hard to take the league too seriously. Case in point: after the Hawks tied the series at 2 behind the stellar play of Joe Johnson, he gets two quick, suspect fouls early in Game 5. And Pierce, who led the Cs scoring attack in Game 5, was called for all sorts of strange fouls in Game 6.

If the NBA wanted to use their officials to ensure a Game 7, it would have looked exactly like that.

And everyone knew it. But I am concerned about the increased "aggression" seen in playoff games recently, whether it's the sacking of Tom Brady or the head-lock Marvin Williams put on Rajon Rondo yesterday - which at least got Williams tossed. I guess the Hawks think a win's a win even if you have to play dirty.

First of all someone PLEASE explain to me why these early playoff series have to go seven games?

HULLO....it's a joke. Ok, revenue, t.v, gang affiliations aside etc. etc...I get it but....GEEZ.

Championships are generally based on a seven game series and these are clearly not championships...

Put me in the column of Celt fans who, after game six, were embarrassed, disgusted and generally disappointed. They should have won. Officiating aside, Garnett should have taken it inside more in the waning minutes.

KG's "unselfish" play (known in college as "passing") can backfire at times when the game is close but KG needs to realize he's the one who's going to be called on to put the team on his back in tough situations, and with his length and quickness, can easily generate a bucket and one situations given most of the undersized forwards and centers who will be asked to guard him.

Of course this, like with his photo-negative, Dirk Nowitski, has always been the criticism of Garnett's game and why we Celts fans haven't made any Championship parade plans: can he be The One?

Only time will tell. As the Pistons can indiscriminately turn their switch off and on against the outmatched Wizards, the Celts will have to play a team (in the Cavs) who already have The One (James), although not much else besides that...

The Celtics looked very strong in all of their wins - at home. So, to think that this game is significant yet is jumping the gun. When they look this dominant on the road, then you could reasonably state that they are at the point they need to be to win the championship.

Is dead-on.

There was no one on the Hawks who could gaurd Garnett. He should have been taking 30 shots a game. And he should have touched the ball on every half-court set at a minimum. No one on the Cavs can gaurd him either. Maybe Rasheed can. But he will get mighty frustrated trying, and that frustration could possibly disrupt the Pistons effort.

Bottom line--there's lots of guys out there who can be 6'3" -6'8" & run & shoot the ball.

Not many who can be 7' with 7-footer skills who also has the agility/skills of a small forward. In fact, I can only think of one--Kevin Garnett. (maybe Greg Oden will turn out to be--we'll see)

Hopefully Doc Rivers will pull his head out of his ass & realize this before they play the Pistons.

Just some comments from an unbiased (Trailblazer fan) observer.

While the Hawks played way above average at home, I thought that the Celtics mentally collapsed late in game 6. Will the non-three (Rondo, Perkins, etc) continue to step up? The Celtics are still learning to play playoff basketball as a team. The Pistons have a big advantage there.

Game 3 against Cleveland in Cleveland will be a test.

Jonathon's analysis was spot-on other than the part where he was talking about how the Piston's match up witht the Wizards, who lost the first round to the Cavs. Just a slip-up I'm sure.

The thing about Garnett is that he doesn't want to be the go-to-guy, as much as fans want him to be. I don't think the Cav's will care much about his offensive game actually, they'll give him his twenty. Between aging Ben Wallace, an underrated defender 'Z' and the Brazilian flop machine I think they'll hold their own. If the Cav's want to win, it's stopping Ray-ray and Pierce from blowing up that will be they're main defensive concern.

And I think (Jonathon mentioned this as well) that Dirk is a 7 footer, isn't he? He's more skilled than Garnett on the perimeter, if we're just talking about big-guys that are uncharacteriscally good for their heighth. And 'Z' as well is a great outside shooter for a big man (not 3-pt range though), his numbers aren't that different from Garnett's really.