Given an opportunity to close out the series on their home floor, though, the Celtics turned to their reliable standby. Paul Pierce, who sprained the medial collateral ligament in his left knee in shootaround prior to Game 4, switched back onto Johnson for Game 6 and troubled the high-scoring swingman just enough for Boston to eliminate the Hawks with an 83-80 win.
"I'm a little tired and sore," Pierce said. "I played a lot of minutes, had to guard one of the toughest one-on-one players in the league all night. You know, that's the nature of the beast."
Celtics coach Doc Rivers had taken Pierce off of primary defensive duty against Johnson in key stretches of the series to conserve Pierce's energy for the offensive end, and it looked like a masterstroke when Pierce went off for 36 points in Game 2 with Daniels playing tough defense against Johnson.
But with the Eastern Conference semifinals within reach, Rivers was not going to entrust one of the best scorers in the game to a second-year breakout star or a couple of veteran reserves. He was going with his captain, the former NBA Finals Most Valuable Player, gimpy leg and all.
Pierce hopped around and helped limit Johnson to 17 points, but on the last possession the Hawks decided to try to break Pierce again. Small forward Marvin Williams went hard to the hoop against Pierce for a potentially game-tying layup. The Celtics forward went up on his one good leg and stuffed Williams' attempt out of bounds.
"Joe Johnson's a shot maker, and you know, it's exhausting," Rivers said. "You're on the bum leg. You're guarding their best player. And we need you to score. Paul is just, he's a gamer. That's what he is."
Have a question for Ben Watanabe? Send it to him via Twitter at @BenjeeBallgame or send it here.
