Boston 101, Atlanta 79

[recap] [box score]

This was it. This was the performance I was hoping for in Game 3.

The Celtics just blitzed the Hawks on Sunday night. Came out strong, hit 'em in the mouth, knocked 'em down, and never let 'em back up. Boston came out with a purpose offensively, with Paul Pierce creating his own shot and Rajon R-ndo getting shots for others with sometimes spectacular assists. Pierce was on fire; he had 24 points in just 16:37 of court time, including several heat-check three-pointers. R-ndo had at least a dozen assists in the first half alone, and finished with 20 points to go along with 16 helpers and just 1 credited turnover -- though I remember two more turnovers in the second half that they didn't give to him.

The one piece of bad news is that Pierce tweaked his knee a bit in the second quarter. I heard him say after the game that he had actually initially hurt it during shootaround before the game, and then he got tangled up with Josh Smith on a screen and tweaked it a bit more. He came out of the game, but did return to start the third quarter. He drilled a couple of threes before Doc took him out, content with the big lead and seeing no reason to push the captain. I don't expect that the knee will cause any real problems -- Pierce plays through injuries like this in the playoffs all the time without ill effects.

Atlanta barely showed any fight. Perhaps their most courageous moment of the game actually came before tip, when Josh Smith decided to play through a sprained knee and Al Horford suddenly reversed course and suited up for the first time since tearing a pectoral muscle in January. The Horford decision seemed particularly odd, given that a week ago he had ruled himself out of the series. It doesn't seem like he could have healed that much in a week, and having been out of action for so long, it was going to be hard for him to have any sort of positive impact. Indeed, Horford was completely overmatched on an early Kevin Garnett post-up, and didn't improve much from there. He's unlikely to be a factor in this series, even if he does continue to play.

The only other time Atlanta showed signs of life was late in the third quarter, when they cut a 37-point lead to 22, with Pierce and Garnett out of the game and presumably done for the night, circumstances permitting. But R-ndo and Ray Allen hit back-to-back three-pointers to stop the rally, and Larry Drew didn't even bother playing his starters in the fourth quarter.

As well as the players played, give Doc some credit for this win, too. Recognizing how tired the team was after Game 3, he gave them Saturday off, and they responded with a performance that was infinitely more energetic and purposeful than the previous one. As much as I think some of Doc's in-game decisions are still questionable, he's one of the best in the biz at managing his players.

We shot extremely well in this game and played extraordinarily well overall, whereas Atlanta played pretty horifically. I wouldn't expect either team to repeat its performance in Game 5, which is back in Atlanta on Tuesday night. (I'm surprised at the lack of a travel day.) Philips Arena is a tough place to play and the Hawks will come out fighting. It's a winnable game, though, and it'd be nice to finish the series early so we can get some rest.