Panther's Perspective with Mike Kashtan

So far, the 2008 NBA Playoffs haven't gone the way the Boston Celtics would like for the first round. The Celts began the playoffs playing the Atlanta Hawks, who only won 37 games in the regular season. Don't mention that to Atlanta, as the Hawks forced a game seven Sunday night at the TD Banknorth Garden.

Have we seen this before? Oh yes, Super Bowl 42, when the New York Giants upset the New England Patriots. Last Friday night, when the Hawks pushed the series to game seven, it was very silent here on the East Coast. Memories of the biggest upset in sports history came crawling back to Boston sports fans again. The Celtics were on the verge of being the victim of one of the biggest upsets in NBA history.

Game seven came quietly, but once the game went underway, the Boston crowd was on their feet the whole game. The Celtics destroyed the Hawks in game seven to advance to the Semi-Finals 99-65, but the Hawks gave us a scare. Did the Celts take them for granted, or was it because the Hawks were just that good? Either way, the first round of the playoffs were not supposed to go to seven games. Boston failed to take care of business in Atlanta and left the Hawks the games when the Celts were supposed to shut them down. The good news is they took care of business at home when they needed to the most, and finally made it out of the first round.

Is this a sign for what is to come? Were the Celts supposed to annihilate the Hawks in the first round and sweep them four games to none? At this stage in the playoffs you can't tell if this will hurt them in the week's to come, maybe it was fate. There is one thing that goes unnoticed; The Celtics didn't look like the team that everyone thought were the favorites to win it all this season. Sure the Celts blew the Hawks out of games at home, but they couldn't close out games in Atlanta. If they are going to have any chance at glory, they need to start being more aggressive at away games.

The second round has to be the biggest challenge the Celtics will face all season. The Celts have not been through a lot of diversity in the regular season when they just blew teams away. Now that the Celts have been through it all in the past series vs. the Hawks, the Celts will prove that 66 wins in the season was no fluke. With LeBron James being the focal point to the whole Cleveland Cavilers team, the Celts need to keep him guarded at all times if they want a chance. The biggest challenge is actually accomplishing what they set out to do, you can never stop LeBron, only contain him.

One of the biggest stories in the Celts road to 17 is the game play of the bench and Rajon Rondo. Rondo really proved this series that he is up for the challenge to be the starting point guard for the Celts averaging 11.7 points in the series and 7 assists. Rondo played extremely well against Mike Bibby who was thought to be a dominate force. Although Bibby played extremely well in Atlanta, he fell face first in Boston. One of the reasons why Atlanta fell short was the awful play by Bibby in the four games played in Boston, only hitting one basket in the decisive Game seven. Rondo looks like he's really going to be a great asset to the team during the next round of the playoffs.

The bench will have to be another key contributor if the Celts are to advance to the championship round. James Posey, who won a championship with the Miami Heat a couple of years ago, is a great seventh man for the Celts. Time and time again Posey came up with big shots and helped the Celts claim the series against the Hawks. Another key contributor has to be Leon Powe, who came out of nowhere this season. His presence alone makes the Celts that more impressive going into the semi finals.

Twenty-two years have passed since the Celtics raised a championship banner to the rafters of the Garden. This year it seems like they have the best chance to bring home the glory for Boston. With LeBron standing in their way in the second round, it looks like it will be a dramatic series full of last second endings and dominating defense with Defensive player of the year Kevin Garnett at the helm.