Wow. they’re as obsessed with us as the Lakers …their crowd will be noisy as it is all year…we will lose :/

What worries me about tonight’s game is not a loss, but the reaction of Celtics fans after the next loss.

The team isn’t going 80-2. It just isn’t. There will be losses along the way, primarily to good teams on the road.

Yet after each loss the chicken littles will be screaming “Tthe sky is falling! The sky is falling!” We’ll have suggestions about trading for every veteran stiff under the sun. The Tony Allen haters, the BBD haters and the POB haters will come out of the woodwork and blame them for every little miscue.

9 of their next 14 games are on the road, including away games against good teams like Atlanta (bad matchup for the Celtics), the Lakers, Portland and Cleveland. Plus they have a home game vs Houston. If the win 10 out of 14 I’ll be delighted, particularly given the one-sided officiating I’ve been seeing lately.

In fact, the Celtics are the best team in the league as presently constituted, and I don’t see any plausible moves that would make them better, not even marginally. So when they lose (not if) let’s try to keep a little perspective, shall we?

per usual, good comments brick. i must admit i can complain at times. i know at one time, you were getting serious about toronto. what’s your take on their experiment with euro ball or whatever they are doing?

Should not even risk it tonight, hostile enviroment, hostile team that self admittedly hates us… no need to force it on a tender knee bro and end up making it worse

Why does such a talented team need such talentless halftime “entertainment”? If they’re that desperate for a fan base, the Hawk’s owners should move that franchise. Sad. Bibby musn’t be doing enough to span the flames of hate in the rivalry. ludicris should help with the hate part.

The key to this rivalry is us playing the same defense against them on the road as we do at home. Our undersized backup bigs are most challenged against athletic bigs like the Hawks have. So keeping Perk on the court is a big key in Atlanta. That’s usually the case anyway. Rondo should have a huge game against the sieve who is Bibby.

I like what Bibby is doing as a vet to fire up his team. Most of us don’t get irritated with Garnett’s antics. Bibby’s are mild by comparison.

Solid post, Brick. Also agree on Pierce, TAR. The bigger picture means a lot more than one game.

So far, this is the only time that I can think of this year, where the other team is TRULY hungrier than the Celtics. Don’t get me wrong, the Celtics are hungry to beat every team, something that is very remarkable due to the fact that they are defending champs and have targets on their heads. Despite this, they have found ways to match the intensity and motivation that teams have against them. These Hawks are on another level of motivation to beat us right now. I think they are selling their souls for this game. If they happen to go on a 5 game losing streak after this (assuming they beat the Celtics), they will still be happy. This is what makes this game scary. They are truly the hungrier team. This is not a bad thing. Our Hunger is to win another ring.

Of course the Hawks are hyping the game. It’s one of their few chances for a sellout during the regular season. The attendance there is simply awful.

I find it interesting that Ray Allen and other Celtics were aware of, and discussing, a website devoted to the Atlanta Hawks, and knew certain material had been on it for a couple of days.

It’s make you wonder how much they’re aware of Celticsblog, and how personally annoying they must find it to be on occasional. In the old days, most players would claim not to read the newspapers.