Game 2 looms for C’s, Hawks

Boston anticipates ‘different shape’ tomorrow

NBA. Winning Game 1 is certainly better than the alternative, especially with the Celtics treating the Hawks like they stole something Sunday night at the Garden.

But the C’s know their first-game victory in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals isn’t the be-all, end-all of this series. After all, Boston had 29 more regular-season wins than the Hawks and wasn’t working with a roster that had 11 players making their postseason debut like Atlanta does.

Fact is, the Celtics should have won that game, and they should win the series.

Moving forward to tomorrow’s Game 2, the Celtics will be trying to correct some deficiencies they didn’t like in Sunday’s performance. Coach Doc Rivers was less than pleased with his team’s reliance on outside shooting in the first half, and the C’s struggled at times to keep Atlanta from creating an offense in the paint.

With that in mind, the chess match officially gets underway tomorrow night.

“The next game is really kind of when it starts because now you see a lot more coaching going into play with matchups and adjustments,” said Ray Allen, who scored a team-high 18 points in Game 1, including 12 in the third quarter. “They’re going to try to give us different looks, so it does take on a different shape in that second game.”

But after beating the Hawks by 23 and leading by as many as 27, the Celtics’ most immediate challenge is staying focused and hungry enough to maintain control of the series.

“You can’t look at Game 1 as the indicator because a series can get turned around if you get overconfident and don’t do the necessary things that you need to do to win four games,” said Paul Pierce, who scored nine of his 16 points in the first quarter of Game 1.

“In the playoffs, the guys realize there’s more at stake. The sense of urgency goes up, the sense of not wanting to go home, a lot of things you start thinking about once the playoffs come. The regular season, you have your ups and downs. In the playoffs, you can’t have any downs.”