A Game on the Line: the Free Throw Line

So last night, Friday, the TV channel I which airs NBA games in my country is not good with scheduling. At least not this weekend. Their official programming listed a Lakers-Nuggets game on Friday, which is impossible since the underachieving squad from Denver is already on vacation, and Kobe is getting ready for to receive his first MVP award. As I said many times earlier, due to the time difference the games over here are in the middle of the night. Whatever time is schedules on NBA.com as Eastern Time, add six hours to it and now you know at what times I watch games. Anyway, I didn’t know which one of the three possible games they would show. Cavs-Wizards would start at 1 a.m., Celtics-Hawks at 2, and Jazz-Rockets at 3:30. Around midnight I was watching two new episodes of The Simpsons, and I think I feel asleep around 1. About an hour later I woke up hearing chants by the Atlanta (not so) faithful. DE-FENSE! DE-FENSE! I checked out at what my finest moment was in ’07 (buying a wonderful LCD screen. I know, I lead a boring life), and there it was: Hawks-Celtics, and I only missed the first two minutes. I’d like to thank the largest crowd ever assembled in the Philips Arena for waking me up, because I wouldn’t have wanted to miss this one.

The Celtics however, did miss this one. Now they have to go on play Game 7 on Sunday, with little chance to rest before they meet LeBron and the rest of the Cavs. Where did it go wrong in this series? Everybody expected this to be over with in 4 or 5. Maybe not everybody (‘Nique, I’m looking at you), but a lot of us fans did. Yet the Hawks are looking like a desperate and overachieving team, who, at least in Game 6, wanted it more than the Celtics. Al Horford is playing so well, the two Joshes, capable of doing so much good, but also so much wrong at the same time, are shining like never before. Joe Johnson is doing what he’s supposed to do in Atlanta: be the leader and star of the team. He sets the tone, and the young guys react on him like a lot of noses during the hay fever season: they are running. And that’s not all: they play like they’re not afraid, and why should they? The Hawks haven’t done shit the last couple of years, and haven’t been in the playoffs since ’99.

Much can be said about Atlanta’s performance last night, but you can’t deny that the Celtics couldn’t hit a shot, at least not from the 3-point range: 4 out of 19 from the arc, with Ray Allen hitting only 1 of 8. The big difference in not only this game, but the whole series is the Hawks’ ability in going to the free throw line. Atlanta went to the charity stripe a blistering 47 times (36 makes), with Boston only getting 25 (hitting 20). Boston also had 10 more fouls than Atlanta, because those young guns keep on driving to the rim. Every Hawks starter had at least 6 free throw attempts. With Boston it was only KG and Powe. The Celtics need to find a way to let them hit outside shots. Bibby is still not hitting much, so the only legitimate outside threat is Joe Johnson.

Game 7 could be a total snooze fest if the Celtics come out and play, and there is no doubt in my mind that this won’t happen. The Celtics won Game 1, 2 and 5 (all at home obviously) with an average of 22.3 points, so with the final game of the season for one of these teams being played in Boston, who do you think would win? Who am I rooting for? Come on now, I need an epic 7-game Lakers-Celtics Finals, what did you expect?