The Boston Celtics blew away the Atlanta Hawks at home on May 6 by the score of 101-79, and now have a commanding 3-1 lead in the best of seven series.
Shooting Surge
After averaging around 40% of field goals made in the first three games of the series, the Celtics finally broke out of their shell in game four, scoring 64 points in the first half and shooting over 50% from the field overall. All of the players that needed to step up for the team did in game four, with Paul Pierce leading the way with 24 points on 10 of 13 shooting. Rajon Rondo continued his double-digit assist streak with 16 to go along with 20 points on 8 of 11 shooting from the field. Lastly, Ray Allen was able to provide a spark off of the bench with 12 points of his own, missing only one three pointer in three attempts for the game.
The Celtics were going to break out of their shooting slump sooner or later, and it just happened to come at the most opportune time for the team in game four of the series. Whether Avery Bradley is in the starting lineup or not, I still like the way the team is set up this postseason. Could they get better scoring options off of the bench? Sure, but the team knew going into the playoffs that they would have to rely mainly on the starters to get most of the points, and if someone were to step it up off of the bench it would be icing on the cake.
Game Five
With Al Horford back and healthy for the Atlanta Hawks I would expect the team to give it all they have in game five to force another game in Boston, but that is not to say the Celtics don't have a chance at clinching the series down in Atlanta either. The Hawks are a strange team, in that they have the talent to be a top tier team in the Eastern Conference but can't seem to get any sort of consistency going. For instance, in game three Joe Johnson goes off for 29 points but then somehow disappears in game four with nine points. If the Celtics can continue to contain Josh Smith and Joe Johnson has another off-night, I like their chances in game five, but overall I would expect the series to go six games.
Ryan Kekoufski is a lifelong Celtics fan. He covers sports for the Yahoo! Contributor Network, and currently resides in Virginia. Follow him on Twitter @RyanKekoufski.
