By Michael Cunningham, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution –
BOSTON — If the Hawks weren’t in such desperate need of a victory against the Celtics on Sunday, forward Josh Smith might have sat this one out.
“I would probably be more cautious with the decision but this is a must-win game for us,” Smith said before Game 4.
So Smith played with a sore left knee and center Al Horford returned after four months out following pectoral surgery. The Hawks were healthier than they’d been in a long time and encouraged by pushing Boston to overtime in Game 3.
It took a little more than 18 minutes for the Celtics to make all of that irrelevant and send the Hawks to the brink of playoff elimination.
Boston jumped the Hawks early and rolled to a 101-79 victory. The score only hints at the beating delivered by the Celtics, who led by 37 points less than halfway through the third quarter.
“Their aggressiveness just totally took us out of our game,” Hawks coach Larry Drew said. “We didn’t respond to it all. We didn’t have the zap, we didn’t have the speed. We were doing everything at about 60 percent.
“This is the playoffs. How can you not have it?”
The Celtics lead the best-of-seven series 3-1 with Game 5 on Tuesday at Philips Arena. Only eight teams in NBA history have come back from a 3-1 deficit to win a seven-game series.
Atlanta gave no indication it can become the ninth.
“I know we are fighting odds right now but there shouldn’t be no quit in this team,” Smith said. “We have to go out on Tuesday and establish ourselves early and try to get a win to force a sixth game.”
The Hawks showed no signs of the grit they’d shown while engaging Boston in three gritty defensive games. They won Game 1, held an 11-point lead late in Game 2 before Smith was injured and forced overtime with a late run in Game 3.
This time the Hawks more resembled the groups that were swept from the playoffs in embarrassing fashion in 2009 and 2010. Those losses came in the second round, and the Hawks have boasted they were one of only three teams (along with Boston and the Lakers) to make it that far three years in a row.
Atlanta’s streak will end unless it can pull off a long shot comeback.
“We have to put it behind us now and don’t think about it,” Smith said. “But also just think about the importance of how much urgency we have to come out with (for Game 5).”
Atlanta had none in Game 4. The Celtics blitzed the Hawks from the opening tip and never let up. They led 32-19 after a quarter and 64-41 at halftime — tied for the fourth-most points allowed in a playoff game in franchise history.
Fans at TD Garden roared, and the Hawks had no response. They were caught in a storm of careless turnovers, poor transition defense and Boston’s hot shooting.
“We were beaten in every phase of the game in the first six minutes,” Drew said. “We did not respond to their pressure and aggressiveness.”
Smith was back in the lineup after missing Game 3 with a knee injury he suffered in the previous game. Smith had 15 points and 13 rebounds in 32 minutes and said he would play in Game 5.
“It felt OK,” Smith said of the knee. “Obviously it was a little sore to begin with but when the game started flowing my knee was getting warm and a little more flexible.”
Horford played for the first time since suffering a torn pectoral Jan. 11. He had ruled himself out of the series before it started.
“It was just being able to mentally prepare myself for a playoff-intense kind of game,” he said. “I knew that I wasn’t there two days ago and (also) my body (wasn’t) feeling good. After yesterday’s practice I felt good enough and I told myself if I woke up Sunday and felt good I was going to try to give it a go.”
Horford appeared to be rusty early but eventually settled down. He finished with 12 points and five rebounds in 12 minutes while making 6 of 10 shots.
The Celtics opened up the big halftime lead and kept pouring it on. They opened the third quarter with a 9-0 run that featured bookend 3-pointers by Rajon Rondo and Paul Pierce.
Boston and its fans appeared to grow bored when the lead swelled to 37 points later in the period, and the Hawks used a 15-2 run to cut the lead to 82-60. Boston responded with an 8-0 run that included back-to-back 3-pointers by Rondo and Ray Allen and a layup by Rondo after he faked a behind-the-back pass.
The Celtics backed off early in the fourth quarter as Atlanta’s starters watched from the bench.
