2012 NBA Playoffs: Looking Back at the Greatest Celtics-Hawks Game Ever

This May marks the 24th anniversary of one of the greatest playoff series and games in NBA history between two current 2012 postseason rivals.

The 1988 Eastern Conference semifinal series between the No. 1-seeded Boston Celtics and the No. 4-seeded Atlanta Hawks remains one of the most entertaining series in league history still, but it was the deciding Game 7 at the legendary Boston Garden that ultimately defined it.

The epic showdown is to this day remembered as the Bird-Wilkins Duel.

After taking a must-win Game 6 on the road in Atlanta just two days earlier, the Celtics, led by Larry Bird, fought off an upset-minded Hawks squad led by high-flying scorer Dominique Wilkins 118-116 to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals for the fifth consecutive season.

Wilkins scored 47 points on 19-of-33 shooting from the field, but it was simply too much Bird for Atlanta in the end, as the Hall of Fame sharpshooter ripped the Hawks for 20 fourth quarter points to finish with 34 for the game.

What made Bird's performance even more clutch however was the fact that he had guaranteed victory after Boston stole Game 6 in Atlanta just hours earlier:

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"They [Atlanta] might as well forget it. They've got no chance, they had a chance to beat us and we all knew if we lost, it meant vacation tomorrow." - Larry Bird

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Current Boston Celtics head coach Doc Rivers chipped in a monster double-double for the Hawks (16 points and 18 assists), though it wasn't enough to prevent Atlanta's collapse from a 3-2 series lead. Kevin McHale (33 points and 13 rebounds) and Danny Ainge (13 points and 10 assists) each posted double-doubles for the Celtics.

Although there have been some memorable matchups between these two franchises, few compare to the Bird-Wilkins duel of 1988. NBA fans can only hope that they are in store for something similar in the future as these two teams renew their half century-old rivalry in 2012.

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