At least it's officially over. The Atlanta Hawks went mercilessly into a beautiful autumn night, dropping a 99-76 decision to the Boston Celtics in this one. In all honesty, however, this one was all done just about the time they tossed the first of 13 first quarter bricks.
Kevin Garnett finished with 17 points and 11 boards. Nate Robinson had 16 in relief of Rajon Rondo, who missed his second straight game with a hamstring injury. Shaq had 13 points and and cleaned the glass 11 times while Paul Pierce added 11.
Let's just say that this wasn't that much of a game. But how can it be when you fire up bricks the entire first quarter and fall behind, 39-13.
Josh Smith just plain didn't show up, finishing with two points on a pair of free throws. Marvin Williams poured in a deuce. Joe Johnson and Al Horford had six each. It was just plain ugly at Philips Arena.
If you read my previous blog post, I was playing a little bar poker at the same time I was watching some of this one. I flopped three fives and got the pot all in on the turn when it was a king, slow playing my opponent who had a pair kings. The river was a king. Trip Kings. He won. In poker, that's called a bad beat.
The Hawks beat was even worse. At least I had the lead. You can't say the same thing about Atlanta's basketball team. They were just plain terrible in their first test at home against one of the NBA's elite. Then again, you're not going to get it done when you shooting 35 percent, your opponent shoots 53 percent and you get outrebounded, 50-30.