GAME 7 DUNK: Josh Smith dunks over Joel Anthony as Atlanta drubbed Miami for the fourth time to win the series. (Doug Benc/Getty Images)
Atlanta hosted its first ever Game 7 and is now advancing to the second round for the first time in a decade.
After a quiet series, Hawks shooting guard Joe Johnson finally made his presence felt in the final game of the series as he led his team with 27 points. Johnson also had five rebounds, four assists, and five steals.
Johnson was on fire from beyond the arc, hitting six threes, including one from 40 feet out on the edge of the Hawk logo located at center court.
“I was just trying to be more aggressive. I haven’t put up a three that long in a while,” Johnson was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.
“I said, ‘Forget it,’ and just launched it. Making that got me into a little rhythm.”
The Heat were led by none other than shooting guard Dwayne Wade with 31 points, three rebounds, four assists, a steal, and two blocks. Despite a strong all-around effort by Wade, he received little help from his teammates in the loss.
Even though the final score only shows a 13-point win, the Hawks took full control of the game following a competitive first quarter that Atlanta led 20–18. By halftime the Hawks led 49–36 and were up by as many as 29 in the fourth quarter.
Double digits decided every game in the series. It’s only the second time in history that a seven-game series had every game decided by at least 10 points.
The Hawks will now move on to face LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Cavs wrapped up their series sweep of the Detroit Pistons last Sunday. The Hawks will try to take advantage of the fact that Cleveland has not played a competitive game in over a week. They will look to steal Game 1 in Cleveland on Tuesday.
The Hawks will be facing a man in King James and team in the Cleveland Cavaliers with their sights set on nothing less than a championship. While it is an extremely tough task that lies ahead for the Hawks, this same team pushed the eventual champion Boston Celtics to seven games in the first round of the playoffs last year as the eight seed.
Defending Champs Continue Title Defense
In what will go down as one of the greatest playoff series in NBA history, the Boston Celtics defeated the Chicago Bulls 109–99 in the series finale.
Game 7 was anticlimactic, as a record-setting seven overtimes were played throughout the series, highlighted by a three-overtime thriller in Game 6 before the series ended in four quarters of regulation in Game 7.
The game really changed in the second quarter when the Celtics were able to turn a seven-point deficit into a 13-point advantage with a 22–2 run to head into half time with a 53–39 lead.
Shooting guard Ray Allen led the way for the Celtics with 23 points while small forward Paul Pierce added 20. Point guard Rajon Rondo chipped in with seven points, five rebounds, and a game-high 11 assists.
Shooting guard Ben Gordon led the way for the Bulls in the loss with 33 points, three rebounds, and four assists.
When talking about the seven overtimes and four overtime games Pierce said, “It was a long, grueling series. I thought this was one of the most mentally tough series I’ve ever been in.
“Thank goodness we were battle-tested and we were able to pull this out in seven games.”
With the win the Celts are still the champs, something Pierce noted saying, “We still are the champs until somebody knocks us off.”
But the defending champ’s title defense will only get more difficult as they will now face the third-seeded Orlando Magic.
The Celts will have their hands full trying to contain Magic center Dwight Howard without their center and cornerstone of their defense Kevin Garnett, who is missing the playoffs with a knee injury.
Matt Sugam also writes for The Daily Targum at Rutgers University.
