Celtics finally put away Hawks, LeBron awaits

Published May 04 2008, 07:41 PM by Ryan Stewart

Hard to feel good about it, but yes, the Celtics blew out the Hawks today, dispatching the worst team (record-wise) in the playoffs. It took them three more games than anyone was expecting them to. They'll now face LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. And perhaps they'll come out strong in this series, and some of the early title-talk will start up again. But in the minds of some, the flaws in the Celtics' game that were exposed in the series against the Hawks are now ripe to be exploited by the Cavs, and that doesn't even consider what might happen against Detroit or Orlando in the Eastern Conference Finals.