The New Monster in the East

"The Celtics helped create the newest monster in the NBA in the Atlanta Hawks.

The Celtics needed a clutch jumper by Paul Pierce with 0.5 seconds left to knock off the Hawks, 103-102, last night at TD Banknorth Garden.

That was against a Hawks team that was without athletic starting forward Josh Smith. That was against a Hawks team that was playing on the road on back-to-back nights after arriving in Boston from Chicago at about 2:30 a.m. yesterday. And that was against a Hawks team that entered the game with a 6-0 record."

-Marc J. Spears, Boston Globe

'"The swagger's there. We've got that swag," Horford said. "We want to let people know we're serious, and that's what we've been doing. We lost, that's the bottom line, but we get to play them a couple more times, and we'll be looking forward to those."
There's no doubt that either of these teams will have trouble remembering the night in November when it sure did feel like winter had already passed."

-Chris Sheridan, ESPN.com

BOSTON (8-1) 103, ATLANTA (6-1) 102
Joe Johnson (ATL): 28 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds
Marvin Williams (ATL): 4/4 3pt, hit go-ahead 3-pointer with under 8 seconds left in 4th
Paul Pierce (BOS): 34 points, 6 rebounds
Kevin Garnett (BOS): 25 points, 12 rebounds

Now at 6-1, the Hawks fall to one game behind the Celtics for the best record in the conference, with Cleveland, Detroit and division rival Orlando rounding out the top five.

The Hawks will continue their quest for revenge on the Celtics December 17th at Philips Arena. Its going to be a fun season. Keep it here for updates on the monstrous Atlanta Hawks (now 6-1) all season long.