I'm not really sure what happened to the Boston Celtics that we saw during the second half of the regular season, but somebody should find them and fly them down to Atlanta. The Celtics found themselves down 15 points in the first quarter and were never able to recover. The Hawks came out of the locker room and were hitting baskets like they were throwing stones in the ocean. Josh Smith had a double-double in the first half and was a factor all night. Jeff Teague was a pest and made some big shots late. Kirk Hinrich nailed four massive three-pointers. Joe Johnson pretty much did nothing except miss shots all game and the Hawks brushed his poor performance off like it was nothing more than a mosquito buzzing around their faces. Kevin Garnett was pretty much the lone bright spot for the Celtics as he came alive in the second half and finished with 20 points and 12 rebounds. Avery Bradley played like an young, inexperienced reserve and looked like a deer in the headlights. Brandon Bass was a non-factor just about the entire night, so much so that I forgot that he was on the floor at times. Paul Pierce was 5-19 from the field and did a whole bunch of nothing on the offensive end. The Celtics — as a team — hit as many three-pointers tonight as I did. That wouldn't have been a problem if they hadn't taken any. Boston took 11, making it a problem. Then there's Rajon Rondo. He was the offense early and was the sole reason why the Celtics were actually scoring for the first quarter and a half. In the final minute of the game, however, Rondo reacted to a controversial call by referee Marc Davis by screaming at him and bumping him. Rondo was abruptly tossed and he could be suspended for Game 2 due to making contact with an official. Losing Rondo would be a crushing blow to Boston's hopes of stealing home-court advantage on Tuesday, but we'll have to wait and hear what the league has to say about it. With everything that went wrong for the Celtics, they still made it a game down the stretch. Unfortunately, small moral victories and silver linings don't win you playoff games. The C's are going to have to actually show up and play basketball if they expect to head back to Boston tied up, especially if they don't have their All-Star point guard.

read more: Celtics can't overcome poor start, drop Game 1 to Atlanta; Rajon Rondo ejected