Morning Snippets

Tony Massarotti - Herald:   "Kendrick Perkins showed up wearing a mask. Leon Powe might have arrived wearing a cape.  So it was for the men in the middle last night at the Garden, where the Celtics walloped the Atlanta Hawks by a 110-85 score in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference playoff series. Powe, the backup, played more minutes than Perkins, the starter, though it was the nature of Powe’s performance that was of far greater importance.  Simply put, he was a beast."

Marc Spears - Globe:   "While the Celtics are known for having Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce, playing tough defense was a big reason they earned a league-high 66 wins during the regular season. After consecutive playoff losses in Atlanta, the Celtics relied on their defense to get back on track in a 110-85 Game 5 victory over the Hawks last night at TD Banknorth Garden."

Dan Ventura - Herald: (Quoting Joe Johnson) "They trapped pretty much every time I caught the ball, which was expected," he said. "But we’re not very disciplined on the road in running our offense, or getting into sets or moving the basketball. That’s why we’re losing games here by 20 points. We just have to be more aggressive. We need to have guys step up and make plays. We can’t just settle for jump shots. We got to drive the basketball and we’re not doing that."

Lenny Meglionla - MetroWest:  "They were playing for trust. For yours, and for each other's.  They were playing to keep the dream alive, to at least make it to the NBA Finals. They were playing to keep the nightmare away; a possible, incalculable first-round exit."

Steve Buckley - Herald:   "There was no talk on this night about hand gestures being gang-related, no talk about fines being levied by the NBA’s various deans of discipline.  Pierce, instead, was a one-man gang in the first quarter, scoring 10 of his game-high 22 points in what would be a systematic, 110-85 dismantling of the Hawks that sends this series back to Atlanta with the Celtics a victory away from advancing to the Eastern Conference semifinals."