Wow, nice game from the Hawks - didn't lose their pose down the stretch, but then again, Boston never really came at them from the defensive end. Atlanta seemed to be able to get what they wanted all through the fourth. Celts looked tired and put upon.

Interesting that the top lopsided series - Boston/Atlanta and Detroit/Philly are turning out to be the closest.

I didn't see this particular highlight until Mike and Mike on ESPN this morning, but there was one scuffle where the referee was pulling Garnett away from the Hawks players, and Garnett actually pushed the ref's arms off him. Mike and Mike were talking about whether he would get suspended or not--the official rule is that any "intentional contact with the official" (or something like that) is an automatic one game suspension. Mike Greenberg thought there would be a suspension, but Mike Golic disagreed. Apparently Kendrick Perkins and Marvin Williams both stepped on the court at one point--I didn't see any footage of that--so they might be suspended under the leaving-the-bench rule.

I doubt Stern will actually sit Garnett down for Game 5, but who knows? The "popular" thing to do last year would have been to let Amare skate for leaving the bench, since everyone knew that the league would rather have Phoenix in the finals than San Antonio, but Stern suspended him anyway. Although enforcing a rule against the media darling Celtics would probably be even tougher.

What bothers me about this is that if Rasheed had done exactly the same thing as Garnett (I haven't looked for a video of it, but it's probably up somewhere on ESPN if you haven't seen it), everyone in the national media would be SCREAMING about how much of a punk Rasheed is, what a team-destroying knucklehead he is, how he needs to be suspended for the rest of the playoffs, etc. The double standard is what annoys me here. Rasheed has earned his reputation over the years as a ref-baiting hothead, but he's a great teammate in ways that a lot of people don't pay attention to, and he's never pushed an official. Garnett is obviously a HOF player who's led his team to an amazing season, but good luck getting anyone in the media to notice that he's also a punk who talks way too much trash to guys who are nowhere near his level of ability (i.e. most players in the league).

He did ferret out Tim Donaghy, though.

Agreed about Garnett. He's a big talker with a nasty mouth for such a softie.

Oh yeah, I had forgotten all about that incident...LOL. It was pretty ridiculous. Sheed probably did go over the line there, but it wasn't worth the 7 games they gave him.

Right after Garnett shoved his forearm in Pachulia's head my son shouted out ...suspension!...I think he's right. He made contact with the ref and gave that shot to Pachulia.

Loved Za Za's reaction...literally getting right in Garnett's face.

I saw the bit where Zaza got in KG's grill, but that was a different incident from the one where KG pushed the ref's arms away, wasn't it? I don't think that all happened at the same time.

Right...I think either one could get him suspended. What do you think?

Good drama. I loved seeing PP and gang get rattled.

Some sense of perverse satisfaction seeing the "all-powerful Celtics" in the same situation as the Stones.

Pushing the ref away probably should get him one game, but I doubt it'll happen.

Garnett deserves a one game... sorry he was forceful in his push of a ref.. end of story

I think what were seeing 2 things that I made mention of months ago... (wow for the first time i can see i was right) lol

1. Boston played at max effort all year and I'm not sure they have that next gear to go to now that the playoffs have started. Atlanta won't win this series because I don't think they can win on the road.... They really need the crowd to keep there energy up. I won't be suprised if it went 7 games though. There play reminds me a bit of the Pistons that year they just couldn't win in boston but would run the celtics off the floor in the silverdome. If Garnett does get suspended though... who knows what happens.

2. Rivers isn't that great of a coach, some of his moves are being highly debated in boston and around the country. Putting cassell in to start the 4th over there young PG was a mistake. Alot of other questions about his supstitution pattern. Atleast if we face them in the ECF I am not worried at all about being out coached.