CELTICS, HAWKS, SCRAPE THROUGH
The first round of the 2009 NBA playoffs was coming to a head. It had started with Game 1 with 8 teams taking that first step to glory. A lot of those teams then stumbled in Game 2 with only three still holding an advantage. Game 3 saw a switch in location, and that saw more teams stumble with only one team remaining unbeaten in the postseason. That teams was the Cavs and Game 4 saw them become the only team to sweep their first round series this season. Game 5 saw another change of location and the Lakers, Nuggets and Mavs booking their conference semi spots. Game 6 saw another change of location and the Magic and Rockets joining the party. Two Eastern Conference series have yet to be decided though. And Games 7 saw one last chance of location for two winner takes all rumbles.
The Celtics faced the Bulls in Boston. Well the Celtics may have opened the scoring but the Bulls responded by holding the defending champions scoreless for two minutes and going on a 9-0 run. The Celtics eventually managed to tie the game with just over three minutes remaining in the quarter but the Bulls still cames back to lead 27-23 at the first buzzer. The second quarter also started brightly for the Bulls with Celtics held scoreless for the first minute but then they finally managed to show the Bulls whose house they were in, retook the lead with over five minutes left in the half and held the Bulls scoreless for the last three minutes. Celtics lead 52-38 at half time with Paul Pierce leading the way on 11 points.
The Bulls started the third quarter strongly and kept pinning the gap down to single figures and eventually took it down to seven points on multiple occasions. The Celtics looks to have stopped the visitors getting big ideas but the Bulls came back to cut the gap again by the end of the third. The first minute of the fourth was completely scoreless and it was the Bulls that started hitting buckets first, and went on to cut the gap down to three with less than six minutes left in the game. The Celts were eventually able to shut down the Bulls without relying on overtime for once. Final score 109-99. Ray Allen led the Cs with 23 points and the Celtics keep their title defence going with a 4-3 series win. They face the Magic in the next round.
The Hawks faced the Heat in Atlanta. Well the Heat had the early running and were leading 8-2 with 9:23 left in the 1st quarter but the Hawks then came back, took the lead with just over eight minutes remaining. The two sides duelled for the rest of the quarter and ultimately, the Hawks won. In the 2nd quarter, the home side never looked back, their lead stretched to double digits with just over eight minutes left in the half and their opponents never looked like keeping up. The Hawks led 49-36 at half time. Josh Smith led the way with 12 points and 6 rebounds. At that points the Heat must have been wondering what it would take to win a playoff series, given that in theory they have the better quality players.
Well the Heat tried to get back into the game in the 3rd quarter and cut the gap down to ten with just over seven minutes left in the quarter. That proved to be nothing the Hawks couldn't handle though and the Heat were again looking a bit like a one man team with what looked like a just one final quarter to go in their season. Will with just over 11 minutes left in the game, the Hawks lead became 20, and the Heat didn't really have a way back from that. They did have a late rally but it was nowhere near enough. Hawks won 91-78 with Joe Johnson leading the way on 27 points. The Hawks win the series 4-3 and will face the Cavs in the next round.