Boston's dominating performance in Game 7 against the Hawks may have alleviated the concerns of Celtics fans, but it should have raised red flags to anyone who watches basketball objectively.

The fact that a team that won 66 games in the regular season couldn't win a road game against a team that won only 37 games - regardless of how well Atlanta played in the series - was incredibly distressing no matter how you look at.

But the question is why did this series go 7 games, and what did it tell us about the Celtics?

Well, Boston's defense on the road was terrible, which was certainly a cause for concern, but the two worst things about the Celtics were things that we already should be well aware of. And that's that Kevin Garnett disappears in crunch time and Doc Rivers continues to be a horrible coach.

We'll start with KG. For the majority of his career, he's been a an incredibly poor fourth quarter player in close games. If they were still making NBA Jam, his clutch rating would be -1. Unlike LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, or Kobe Bryant, KG doesn't seem to want the ball in his hands with the game on the line.

John Hollinger of ESPN made this incredibly clear when he broke down KG's performance in Game 6. KG finished with four points and four rebounds in the quarter, and committed two turnovers when he passed up opportunities to shoot.

Garnett also didn't challenge Josh Smith, even when Smith had five fouls. Worse, he passed up a chance to go one-on-one in the post against Smith with about 1:40 left and Boston down four, and instead deferred to James Posey, who launched a contested 30-footer that missed.

But the biggest issue that Hollinger points out is that Boston seemed to know KG would come up small. They ran every important play in the quarter for Ray Allen because Paul Pierce had fouled out and Garnett wasn't stepping up. Atlanta smartly gave a ton of defensive attention to Allen - who was 1-for-8 in the quarter - while KG was primarily single covered.

The simple fact is that if KG plays 4th quarters like he always does - and there's no reason to believe that will change - this team isn't even going to make it out of the Eastern Conference Playoffs. Remember, they're going up King James next, not another team that finished the season below .500.

As For Rivers, good God where do I start? It's bad news when I'm watching a game with people who barely pay attention to the NBA and they ask me "how come the Celtics aren't double-teaming Joe Johnson?"

As everyone who follows the NBA knows, Rivers has never exactly been considered even a moderately decent coach. Bill Simmons, who honestly knows a lot about the NBA, has been bashing Rivers for years. And rightly so.

Unbelievably, Rivers used 12 players by the one-minute mark of the second quarter in Game 6. Why? This isn't a hockey game with shifts. He also used Sam Cassell in favor of Rajon Rondo in the 4th quarter of almost the whole Atlanta series. Did Doc forget who helped him collect those 66 wins this season? And he also ignored the fact that Cassell was terrible in the 4th quarter of the three road games in Atlanta. He can't guard anyone anymore.

Critical Fanatic has also been dumbfounded - and I agree with him - that Rivers seemingly puts the incredibly productive Leon Powe in the doghouse occasionally for inexplicable reasons. You have to be an idiot to think Powe can't play. So there you go, Rivers is an idiot.

And to finish all of this off, Rivers' decision not to double team Joe Johnson in Game 4 when Johnson was killing the Celtics in the 4th quarter was inexplicable. Yes, Josh Smith was having a good game as well, but I'd rather take my chances with a hot Smith than a scorching Joe Johnson. I'll never understand what Rivers was thinking in that game.

The fact of the matter is that Boston has two fatal problems with their team. Their best player is the second coming of Chris Webber in the 4th quarter and their coach is utterly clueless.

Truthfully, I think that Pierce and Allen can cover for KG on some level. But as they go against better and better teams, Cleveland, and if they get past them, Detroit, this will become a more critical issue. 

But while KG may cost the Celtics a game with his reluctant play, what will ultimately kill this team is Rivers. He hasn't learned anything during his time as a head coach in the league and he'll be eaten alive the further this team goes - that is, of course, if they ever get there.