Celtics Advance, Lakers Mute Jazz

The Celtics pre-game intros includes a video of Celtics highlights on the jumbotron hanging high above the court. The video also shows KG and Pierce letting out primal screams to rile up the crowd. The Celtics fed upon that energy and came out intense in their game 7, Must Win against the Hawks. Piece seemed especially fired up as the team captain looked to lead the way. In the 3rd quarter, the Celtics had pushed out to an impressive 34 point lead. The Celtics D was extremely suffocating, preventing the Hawks from getting into any sort of scoring attack. The Celtics blew the Hawks off the court with a huge 34 point win. KG had 18 points and 11 rebounds. Marvin Williams had a hard flagrant foul on Rajon Rondo, leading to a Williams ejection and possible suspension next season.

The NBA analyst on ABC proposed the idea that maybe the Hawks hometown crowd gave them the extra motivation to win 3 games in Atlanta. Despite the loss, hats off to the Hawks for taking the best team in the NBA (record-wise) to the limit. This could help the Celtics in making them prepared for future tough games, or it may have worn them down to face a hungry Cleveland team. Jeff Van Gundy of the ABC commentary team suggested the Cavs have a great opportunity to steal Game 1 in Boston this Tuesday night.

In the second game of ABC's doubleheader, it was the Los Angeles Lakers playing against the Utah Jazz. It's already been reported that the star of the Lakers, Kobe Bryant, will take this season's MVP award for his first time this coming week. At today's game in LA stars showed up like Tobey Maguire, Denzel, Diane Cannon, Jack Nicholson, Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers as well as rocker Glenn Frey and Iron Man himself, Robert Downey Jr. Kobe had his usual superhero type performance with help from his supporting cast. The Jazz hung close in the 4th but the Lakers ran away with it 109-98 behind Kobe's 38 point performance. Utah dominated in the rebounding category giving them more to build upon for Game 2.