Last night’s Hawks/Celtics game was about as close as you’ll get on TV to seeing good ol’ confrontational angry NBA action in-person without the actual risk of Jermaine O’Neal punching you in the face. We’re not sure if the Atlanta crowd was extra quiet or the court mics were just extra loud, but throughout the game you could hear pretty much everything Rasheed Wallace and Kevin Garnett were saying, especially ‘Sheed … Playing in the building he called home for about 20 minutes once upon a time, ‘Sheed was in vintage form: Yelling at every teammate, cussing at every opponent, and abusing every ref. One time Joe Johnson appeared to throw a pass out of bounds, but when the refs said Boston deflected it, ‘Sheed screamed, “Who hit that? Who hit it? TELL ME!” That was one of the few clean examples we can use. After another call against the Celts had Rasheed saying something about Blubber-Trucking Bass, Dominique Wilkins offered this useless piece of advice: “You can argue all you want, but the call is never going to change.” … Between Wallace’s Robin Harris impersonation, the fourth quarter belonged to Joe Johnson (27 pts) and Jamal Crawford (28 pts). Too bad Doc Rivers can’t afford to bench Rajon Rondo or Paul Pierce in crunch time, because it’s clear neither of them can handle ATL’s crunch-time backcourt. While Joe was giving Pierce (35 pts) bully-style buckets, Crawford was torching Rondo with quick-strike cobra bites. With 1:05 to go and the Hawks up seven, Crawford delivered the dagger when he stole a crosscourt pass by Rondo and cruised in for a dunk. Then, just to be mean, Joe added a triple in Pierce’s eye with 30 seconds left to twist the dagger … That’s a 4-0 season sweep for the Hawks over the Celtics. At the final buzzer, Atlanta’s P.A. announcer teased, “Is it a rivalry now?” … Kobe Bryant had his own homecoming Friday, returning to Philly to face the Sixers. Mostly covered by Jrue Holiday, Kobe only had two points in the first half, but came out after halftime like The Wolfman. He unleashed fadeaways in Jrue’s face, in Willie Green‘s face, in Aaron McKie‘s face — basically anybody the Sixers threw at him. Kobe finished with 24 and the Lakers got the win … If you needed proof that Derek Fisher is nearly done, look no further than this game. Allen Iverson has been struggling to get past almost every defender he’s faced this year, but last night A.I. (23 pts) was smoking Fisher so badly that Kobe eventually had to be switched onto him. Allen was treating D-Fish like his name was Tyronn Lue … The game of the night was Hornets/Bulls. Down by one with one minute remaining in the fourth, David West dropped a deep three to beat the shot clock — a “lucky shot” according to one Chicago announcer — then after Brad Miller tied it with free throws, West put N.O. back up with a layup courtesy Chris Paul (18 pts, 12 asts) drawing the entire defense his way … With seven seconds left, Hornets up two with the ball, all they had to do was inbound and Chicago would have to foul. But West (29 pts, 14 rebs) tried to hit CP with a homerun pass for a breakaway layup, proceeded to throw it too hard, and CP had to save it from going out of bounds. The Bulls capitalized, as Luol Deng‘s tip-in at the buzzer forced overtime … Even worse, Paul hurt his knee on that play, so he couldn’t guard Derrick Rose (18 pts) in the extra frame and Rose was able to carve up Darren Collison. Chicago was up two in the final seconds when Collison (not Paul) brought the ball up on N.O.’s last opportunity, but over-dribbled and turned the ball over … What’s more disturbing: The fact that Julian Wright hasn’t improved his game since high school, or that he looks more and more like Tim Thomas every day? And what are the chances those two things are related? … Defining sequence of Spurs/Grizzlies: Hamed Haddadi checked in late in the first half and immediately the Spurs went to Tim Duncan (19 pts, 9 rebs, 7 asts), who scored on Haddadi and-one. Going back on offense, Haddadi had to slow down his run to turn and look at Mike Conley so Conely could tell him exactly what to do for that possession. The Spurs won, if you couldn’t tell … Other stat lines from Friday: LeBron posted 22 points, nine boards, 13 dimes and four blocks in a rout of the Pacers; Aaron Brooks scored 33 in Houston’s win over Portland; Marcus Camby snagged 19 rebounds and four steals but the Clippers lost to Minnesota; Kevin Durant dropped 30 on the ‘Melo-less Nuggets; D-Wade‘s 22 was enough as Miami held Detroit to just 65 points; Paul Millsap hung 32 points, 14 boards and seven assists on the Kings in a win; Gerald Wallace and Stephen Jackson had 30 point apiece as the ‘Cats beat G-State; and Earl Boykins scored 15 and hit the game-winner — over 6-10 Kris Humphries, no less — as Washington snapped New Jersey’s one-game win streak … We’re out like T-Lue …