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After strong start, Celtics meet Hawks for Game Two

Apr 23, 2008 - 2:08 PM Atlanta at Boston 8:00 pm EDT Eastern Conference first round Celtics lead, 1-0

BOSTON (Ticker) - The Boston Celtics are off to a nearly flawless start in their pursuit of a 17th NBA title.

The top-seeded Celtics try to take a two-games-to-none lead in the first round of the Eastern Conference finals when they host the eight-seeded Atlanta Hawks for Game Two on Wednesday.

Ray Allen scored 12 of his 18 points in a key third-quarter outburst to help lead the Celtics over the Hawks, 104-81, in Game One of the best-of-seven series on Sunday.

Paul Pierce added 16 points, Kevin Garnett collected 16 and 10 rebounds and Rajon Rondo added 15, nine assists and six rebounds for the well-balanced Boston squad, which had six players score in double figures.

"Really, just good to get that first one out of the way," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "I think our guys have really been waiting for it, longer than most teams in a lot of ways, having it sowed out a few weeks ago. I thought we played well, but we can play better, and that's the good news."

The Celtics, who ranked second in the NBA by allowing just 90.2 points per game during the regular season, held Atlanta to just 38 percent shooting from the field.

"I thought we settled in a lot better in the second half as far as what we were doing defensively, we had a rhythm defensively if that is even possible," Garnett said. "Turned up the heat a little bit and really played our style of basketball and did what we wanted to do on the defensive end."

Guard's Joe Johnson and Mike Bibby made just 9-of-32 shots from the field for Atlanta, which trailed by as many as 23 points in the fourth quarter.

"We will watch tape and try to clean up our offense," Hawks coach Mike Woodson said. "They started to go to the mismatches and exploit us there. We need to regroup and bounce back on Wednesday."