2012 NBA Playoffs: Hawks Owner Foolishly Gives Celtics Motivation Before Game 6

The Atlanta Hawks will face elimination against the Boston Celtics on the road at TD Garden on Thursday night, and team co-owner Michael Gearon Jr. has foolishly given Boston extra motivation ahead of Game 6.

After talking about many of his players toughing it out through injuries to help the team, Gearon called the Celtics old and described Kevin Garnett as the dirtiest player in the NBA.

Per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Gearon said:

"

On top of all that, we don’t get any calls, which I know everybody always hears. But I’ll give you a stat. Last night, we are playing this old, physical team. They are old. I know what happens when you play basketball, old guys foul. [Kevin] Garnett is the dirtiest guy in the league. We are playing Boston last night and they had two fouls the whole first half. We had five times that and we’re athletic.

"

I can't find any positives that Gearon thought these comments might provide, because age has nothing to do with how often a team fouls, and the reason his Hawks didn't shoot many free throws in Game 5 was because they took way too many outside shots.

Whenever you call a team old, that's going right on the bulletin board in the locker room before the game. The Celtics historically have fed off of being doubted because of their lack of youth on the roster.

No one thought they would make any noise in the 1969 or 2010 NBA playoffs because of age and injuries, but they made the NBA Finals both years, winning in '69.

The worst part about this is the fact that Game 6 is being played in Boston, a place where the Hawks haven't won a playoff game since Game 5 of the 1988 Eastern Conference semifinals. Game 7 of that series was the epic Larry Bird vs. Dominique Wilkins battle.

Making these comments when his team is going on the road facing elimination, especially after the Hawks were dominated by 22 points in Game 4 in Boston, was a huge mistake by Gearon.

Firing up a guy like Garnett, who is arguably the most intense player in NBA history, was a really bad idea.

The last Hawks player or front office member to call out the Celtics during the playoffs was Mike Bibby in 2008, and Boston used that motivation to dominate Atlanta in every game played at TD Garden in their first-round series.

It's hard to imagine the Celtics and their fans not using these comments by Gearon to get even more excited about tonight's game, and send the Hawks home for the summer.

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Nicholas Goss is an NBA Featured Columnist at Bleacher Report.