Josh Smith scored 22 points and grabbed 18 rebounds as the Atlanta Hawks defeated the Boston Celtics 83-74 in game one of their NBA Eastern Conference first-round playoff series.

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The fifth-seeded Atlanta Hawks come into the 2012 NBA Playoffs looking to advance to the second round for the fourth straight year. The Hawks last lost an opening-round series back in 2008 when they fell to the eventual NBA champion Boston Celtics 4-3.

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The New York Knicks might be the hottest playoff team in the Eastern Conference of the NBA, and deserve credit for resurrecting their season to finish at 36-30. Certainly, when they were mired at 8-15, nobody considered the possibility the Knicks might become a dangerous first round opponent. For the most part, however, the Eastern Conference second round matchups are likely to be Chicago Bulls and the Boston Celtics, and the Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers.

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The Philadelphia 76ers thought they would be the Atlantic Division champions for much of the season. Sixers fans like myself really wanted it, if only so they could avoid the Chicago Bulls or the Miami Heat in the playoffs. But the Sixers are getting the Bulls anyway while the Boston Celtics have another division crown and a prized top four seed - despite not getting home court advantage.

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Heading into the final night of the NBA's slapdash lockout-shortened 2011-12 season, we know which 16 teams will be playing for the Larry O'Brien Trophy come this weekend, and we have four matchups set. In the Eastern Conference, the third-seeded Indiana Pacers will take on the No. 6 Orlando Magic, who clinched their seeding with a 102-95 Wednesday win over the Charlotte Bobcats, while the No. 4 Boston Celtics will square off against the No. 5 Atlanta Hawks. Out west, the San Antonio Spurs (the conference's top seed for the second straight year) will face the eighth-seeded Utah Jazz, while Chris Paul and Blake Griffin will lead the Los Angeles Clippers into a 4-5 matchup with last year's postseason darlings, the Memphis Grizzlies. That's what we know. So what don't we know? Well, for starters, who's going to have home-court advantage in C's/Hawks and Clips/Grizz? Who are the Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat and Oklahoma City Thunder going to face in the first round? Where do the defending champion Dallas Mavericks fit into the mix? [ Related: Miami Heat fan punches Suns' Gorilla mascot at Arizona appearance ] By the end of Thursday's slate, we'll have the answers to those questions and more. Let's take a brief look at which games mean what in terms of playoff positioning Thursday night.

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I tend to agree with the assessment made a couple months back by Trey Kerby at The Basketball Jones that Ivan Johnson should be one of everybody's favorite players. There's so many reasons to root for Johnson — the novelty of his status as a 28-year-old rookie who appeared on the NBA scene as if from nowhere (perfectly enough) in this weirdo lockout-shortened season; the eccentricity of a legitimate NBA forward who rocks diamond fronts during games and freely admits he  doesn't really watch basketball ; the underdog narrative of a player who went from overseas-and-D-League journeyman to key frontcourt rotation piece on the playoff-bound Atlanta Hawks this year, pretty much through hard work, toughness and sheer force of will; and so on. It's hard to find reasons to root against a guy like that. Unless you're Nick Young, that is. If you're Nick Young, and you were the object of Johnson's frustration following a terrible turnover during the Tuesday night matchup between his Hawks and your Los Angeles Clippers, then it's OK to not be such a big fan of his. For a little while, at least. Johnson had six points, seven rebounds and a pair of blocks, including this clean and monstrous erasure of Young, in the Hawks' 109-102 home win over the Clippers. The win helped Atlanta (39-26) maintain a one-game lead in the standings over the Boston Celtics (38-27), whom they'll face in the first round of the playoffs, keeping them in line to snare home-court advantage in the series despite Boston's claim to a higher seed as the champions of the Atlantic Division.

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The Miami Heat weren't able to even out their season series against the Boston Celtics, losing 78-66 on April 24. Chris Bosh wasn't able to suit up against the Celtics due to a sprained hamstring, and Heat coach Erik Spoelstra decided to rest Dwyane Wade and LeBron James.

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It was a thought that surfaced while the New York Knicks were draining three-point shots at a near-record pace at Madison Square Garden (April 17) against the Boston Celtics. Why can't the Knicks, with 19 three-pointers, put away this way-past-stubborn Celtic team?

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(Reuters) - Paul Pierce nailed a vital jump shot in the closing seconds to ensure the Boston Celtics clinched the Atlantic Division title with a 102-98 win over the Orlando Magic on Wednesday. Pierce made up for the absence of injured All-Star point guard Rajon Rondo by dishing out 14 assists, but his pull-up jumper with seven seconds remaining to give the Celtics a four-point lead was probably his most telling contribution. ...

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It was good news abound on Wednesday, April 18 as the Boston Celtics defeated the Orlando Magic by the score of 102-98. With the win the Celtics improve to 37-26 on the season while the Magic fall to 36-26.

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