Tired of the Boston Celtics? Would you enjoy watching them wrangle with the HEAT in the playoffs' first round? Well, if you’re an Atlanta Hawk, here’s a chance to help bring that wish into reality.

Boston now sits just 2.5 games behind the Hawks for the 6^th spot in the Eastern Conference, but they’re down to just 1.5 games ahead of the Milwaukee Bucks and remain perilously close to the dreaded 8^th seed. On Wednesday, they needed every one of Jeff Green’s 21 points, including the game-winning buzzer-beating layup, to come back from 13 down in the fourth quarter and escape a Cleveland squad that is more than happy to settle for victories of the moral kind. The Celts had dropped five straight before that.

Paul Pierce has become the de facto playmaker for the C’s, for better (8 assists vs. Cleveland; 5.7 APG in the last six games) or worse (7 turnovers; 5.0 TO/G in that stretch). Hawk defenders should not give Pierce space in which to work the offense, either to pass or to call his own number. He’s gotten out of his season-long efficiency doldrums to shoot 52.2 FG% this month, 48.1% from three-point range. Look for Dahntay Jones to get much more than the 3 minutes he logged in Boston’s 107-102 overtime win on March 8 to ramp up Pierce’s degree-of-difficulty.

Brandon Bass: He’s Alive! Unencumbered offensively with Kevin Garnett (ankle) out of action indefinitely, Bass finally emerged with 22 points against the Cavs for his first 20-plus game this season. With Al Horford under the weather, he’ll need to show he can have another big game, this time against Atlanta’s backups at the 5-spot. Johan Petro and Anthony Tolliver will need to follow Bass outside the paint when he settles for mid-range shots, and also avoid the cheap fouls, as Bass piles on the points whenever he can draw trips to the free throw line (26-for-28 on freebies this month).

Green attacking the rim will help relieve offensive pressure from Pierce. Defensively, Green will have to pick his poison between helping inside the paint with Josh Smith or hovering the arc for Kyle Korver. An oh-by-the-way trey from Kyle with 90 seconds left kept his three-point shot streak alive on March 8 and helped the Hawks drag Boston into overtime after the Celts blew a late 13-point lead. Smith was monstrous with 32 points and 9 assists but will need to leave the long-range bombing (9 three-point attempts, making 3) to the experts.

Actually, Atlanta must not settle for trying to match Boston’s long-range jumpers. Opponents shoot an NBA-low 34.1 FG% on twos and threes beyond 15 feet from the rim.

Smith will need to impose himself on defense against the Celtics’ similarly-depleted interior. Against Toronto on Wednedsay, the Hawks registered their first zero-block contest since December 2010; the Raps only returned a single block to sender themselves. Jeff Teague had his way with the Raptors’ defense in the second half, but will have a harder time getting the ball inside today, as he’ll be hounded by Avery Bradley all night.

Devin Harris will remain sidelined with a sore foot, but that setback could be matched by Boston’s Courtney Lee, who is questionable with an ankle sprain. Coach Larry Drew relied on a short bench, featuring Korver and Tolliver, which was not productive (combined 8 points on 2-for-12 shooting) and forced the starters to offset Boston’s trio of Green, Jason Terry and Jordan Crawford (40 points combined, 14-for-29 shooting). Someone among the Hawk reserves will have to emerge.

Ivan Johnson and John Jenkins were quite efficient against Toronto and may be among the first off the bench tonight. Shelvin Mack provided crucial minutes controlling the ball in the final quarters of the last two Hawk victories and the comeback against Indiana. Having mastered the Godfather of Soul Pass versus the Raptors, Johnson will be needed for strong rebounding and creating havoc against the likes of Chris Wilcox, D.J. White and Shavlik Randolph.

Go Hawks!

~lw3