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Photo via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0The Hawks are winning in Boston tonight.
Not hoping. Not "if things break right." Winning.
I know. Back-to-back. Emotional overtime win in Detroit two days ago. TD Garden against a Celtics team that just dismantled OKC. Vegas has them as five-point dogs. Every reasonable voice in your head is telling you to pump the brakes.
I don't pump brakes.
Yesterday I told you the receipts were in. Detroit was the proof. The 0-4 against contenders narrative is dead. But here's what nobody is talking about: the Hawks already won at TD Garden this season. January 28. 117-106. That wasn't a fluke. That was a blueprint.
Now look at tonight's injury reports. Hawks: empty. Nobody hurt. Full strength. Celtics: Jaylen Brown questionable with a calf. Derrick White questionable with a knee. Vucevic out.
Full-strength Hawks versus a potentially shorthanded Boston. On a floor where Atlanta already has a win this year.
The "fake streak" crowd said 15-2 was schedule padding. Then the Hawks beat Detroit in overtime on the road. Now they get Boston. If they win this, what's left to argue? What's the next excuse?
Jalen Johnson is averaging 22.8, 10.3, and 8.1 this season. He's healthy. He's locked in. He dropped 27-8-12 on the number one seed two nights ago and looked bored doing it. CJ McCollum is in assassin mode. Dyson Daniels is the best perimeter defender on either roster tonight.
I was 93% sure the Hawks finish top-5 after Detroit.
I'm 95% now.
A win tonight at Boston makes it a lock. Simone wrote that Detroit told us everything we needed to hear. She's right. But tonight tells everyone else.
Bookmark this. Check it at 10 PM. Tell me I'm wrong.
The Tilt
The Hawks are going to beat the Celtics at TD Garden tonight because they already proved they can, they're fully healthy, and Boston might be missing Jaylen Brown.
— Dex Ponce
What's your take?
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