"Boston Sucks! Boston Sucks!"

How often do sports fans get to chant something as fun as “Boston Sucks, Boston Sucks!” in their sportsfan lives? For us folks in Phatlanta, it ain’t very often. Granted, the Celtics are more than capable of destroying the Hawks over the course of the next two (and hopefully three) games. But when an 8 seed under .500 backdoors into the playoffs and twice takes down the team with the league’s best record to tie a playoff series, the fans can chant whatever they want until the next game tips.

I was in the “Highlight Factory” (cartoonishly- lame nickname, but lots of fun) last night with 20,000 rabid fans, and the only sporting events where I’ve had more fun have all been Georgia football games that we weren’t supposed to win, and they were all enhanced by a belly full of Wild Turkey. At the very least, last night was the best professional sporting event I’ve ever been to by a huge margin.

Player of the night?

Well Josh Smith got it for Saturday’s game…

…and he was awesome again last night with 28 points shooting 50% from the field (6 of his 8 missed field goals were 3′s – nothing like the double edged sword of a guy like Smith making a bunch of 3′s in one game and thinking he’s Steve Kerr in the next), 12-13 at the line, 6 boards (hard to get rebounds when Al Horford wants them all), 2 assists and SEVEN blocks. Smith is extremely frustrating for a fan due to his at times awful decision-making on the court, but his potential has no ceiling whatsoever. He’s showing that along with his talent and freakish athleticism, he’s got huge balls and wants to play in big big games.

But it’s gotta be Joe Johnson, right?

His 20 point 4th quarter was what the Hawks needed to hang on. Is he a superstar? Not quite, but he’s at least a star, right? At this point he’s somewhere in between. The trade to acquire him has been extremely controversial. The ownership’s legal battles stem directly from Steve Belkin’s (Celts fan, btw, “BOSTON SUCKS!”) opposition to the move, and the ownership’s legal battles are killing this franchise the most. No GM or coach wants to work for the Atlanta Spirit, and I can’t blame them. But at the end of the day, we only gave up Boris Diaw and two first round picks (one was a middle to late pick that the Suns ditched for cash, and the other will be a middle round pick this year) to get JJ. Thanks to lottery luck, it’s turned out to be incredibly lopsided, and last night was a heavy dose of reassuranace that Billy Knight did the right thing in getting him from the Suns. Any team that wants to be legit needs a guy that can take over and win a game all by himself, and every now and then Joe Johnson can do that. Last night he did, in a big way.

But I’m gonna give the game ball to the guy that went 0-1 with 2 rebounds and 3 personal fouls in 11 minutes. One of those personal fouls was the play of the game, and maybe the play of the series if it leads to some suspensions. Atlanta has proven they can beat the Celtics at home. Maybe without KG on the floor the Hawks can steal a win in Boston???? Maybe????

15 seconds in KG skakes off the ref (as shown in the pic at the top), and that might be enough to get him suspended for a game. Zaza probably would too if KG gets the hook, and Marvin Williams and Kendrick Perkins technically should as well as both of them stepped on the floor during the minor fracas. I’ll do a KG+Perkins for Zaza+Marvin swap any day of the week.

Even short of suspensions the Hawks are playing with brazen attitudes, and Zaza’s shennanigans are a perfect example of the lack of respect they’re showing Boston. They have nothing to lose, why not be obnoxious and try to get in the other team’s head? I thought there’d be payback after Horford’s taunting of “lil’ pee pee” on Saturday…

…but instead it looks like it’s working in Atlanta’s favor. KG, Pierce and Cassell talk tremendous amount of smack and the young Hawks are just returning the favor.

Disrespectful? Yes. Unwarranted? Probably so. Effective? So far, big yes. I don’t expect another win in this series, but I didn’t expect wins in the last two games, either, so what the heck do I know?

I do know that if I get to chant “Boston Sucks!” again on Friday night it just might be following the biggest moment in Atlanta sports history. And even if I don’t, at least I got to chant it last night.