An Early Season Statement?

Rarely...........

Do I watch an NBA game from tip-off to finish. But last night was an exception. The undefeated Atlanta Hawks with their talented array of young studs took on the defending world champions.....

You remember these guys. Led by former Hawk player and now Celtics' head coach, Doc Rivers........Led by the "big three"....as in Kevin Garnett , Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen.

Yes..........the Boston Celtics.

This was a great game. The Hawks came out playing the way they have played thus far in the young season. Defense.......Ball movement..........unselfish play.

Atlanta was up by as many as 16 points in the 2nd quarter......but........Boston fought back to tie it up at 51 all at the half.

The 2nd half had more lead changes than a NASCAR race at Daytona.

And in the end ..........with about 7 seconds left......Marvin Williams hit a corner three pointer to put the Hawks up 102-100.

And then .........it was "Pierce Time"..........Paul Pierce calmly ..........fearlessly..........connected on a 20 foot jumper with 0.5 seconds left to give the Celtics a 103-102 win.

Statement?

Yes........but .......by whom?

Sure, the Celtics won the game..........but the statement was made.......by Atlanta.

They out-played the world champions for 47 minutes and 59.5 seconds.

But an NBA game is a full 48........and they will learn from this.

Point is ...........the Celtics now know.......Atlanta is for real....The Hawks know.......and now...the rest of the NBA knows.