The Atlanta Hawks Need to Finish in Second Place in the Eastern Conference

I’m not sure how it happened, but it happened. The Atlanta Hawks have swept the regular season series with the Boston Celtics.

According to the Atlanta Hawks' website at www.nba.com/hawks , it is the first time since the 1988-89 season that the Hawks have swept the Celtics and it’s the first four-game sweep for the franchise since the 1995-96 season.

The 100-91 win over Boston last night at Philips Arena has also moved them past the Celtics and into second place in the Eastern Conference.

If the Hawks are able to keep their second place position, they finally might get past the first round without a seven-game series. They would skip over the Miami Heat, who are in sixth place, and have to play the Chicago Bulls instead in the first round.

Meanwhile, if the current playoff picture stays in focus, it would mean that the Celtics and Heat would see each other in the first round.

The Bulls and Hawks have played twice this season, splitting the series so far. Atlanta crushed the Bulls 118-83 in their first meeting at Atlanta in December, and then barely lost to the Bulls in Chicago a week later, 101-98. Atlanta just barely lost in overtime on the same night that Joe Johnson set his season-high 40 points.

While Johnson had a solid game for the Hawks, the rest of Atlanta gave little support to the superstar. Josh Smith went 2-for-12 from the field, including missing back-to-back layups in overtime that could have given the Hawks the lead. Regardless, a matchup against the Bulls would be better than the Heat or the Celtics.

Also, hopefully Miami and Boston would beat up on each other in their opening first round series, making it easier for Atlanta to get past the second round and into the Eastern Conference Finals.

If that did happen, it would be the third-straight time that Atlanta has advanced further in the playoffs than the year before.

Today is a great day for the Atlanta Hawks' community. Not just because of the sweep over the hated Boston Celtics, but because the Hawks can be officially called a dominate team in the NBA.

The Hawks absolutely dominated the Celtics. They led 44-18 in bench points, 24-10 in points off turnovers, and 29-8 in fast break points.

They have made the journey and the transition that management hoped they would. No longer are the Hawks the bottom-feeders of the NBA.

No more lottery picks, or a coaching carousel, and having Atlanta be a speed-bump on the way to another destination (Rasheed Wallace).

It has been a long time coming for the Hawks' management, players, and their fans. They say waiting is the hardest part, but it seems worth it now that it is finally here.

The season is not over yet, and they were just regular season games over the Celtics. But it doesn’t matter when it is.

You want to tell me that Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers don’t care about their losses to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Celtics do care about these losses and what they mean is very real and very powerful.

Any edge that you can have over your opponent come playoff time is a boost for that team.

And finally, the Hawks will be the ones with that edge.