The Hawks must find a way to free up Johnson when he’s got two or three defenders running at him every time he gets the ball, which is what the Celtics did for 48 minutes in Game 5 and will surely do again Friday night. If he can’t get open, the other four players on the court must make the extra pass, find the open man and hit the shot.

“It was very frustrating,” Johnson said. “But there’s nothing I can do about it. They’re not going to change.”

Who must change for the Hawks?

Start with Mike Bibby, who probably should have kept his mouth shut when it comes to Boston’s fans. Still remembering that he accused them of being “fair weather” supporters after Game 1, they booed the Hawks point guard every time he touched the ball. He responded with another miserable performance on the road: 2-of-8 shooting and only one assist.

But the rest of the Hawks weren’t much better.

Marvin Williams, who was supposed to be a big part of the offensive plan if the Celtics clamped down on Johnson, had only 12 points. Josh Smith, coming off two huge games in Atlanta, was held to 4-for-13 shooting. Rookie Al Horford was the only one who stood up to the Celtics with another double-double, 14 points and 10 rebounds.

With Boston making more than half its shots and crashing the boards on those that missed, the Hawks had few chances to run — the key to creating offensive chances against one of the league’s best defenses.

“We can’t allow them to dictate our game,” Childress said. “We have to dictate the game. In this series, it all starts at the defensive end.”

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It also starts at home, which is why the Celtics weren’t too concerned even after they lost two in Atlanta.

“There’s no panic,” Cassell said. “They just did what they had to do at home, they tied the series up, so we had to take care of our home court. You see, people don’t realize this is why we work so hard during the course of the regular season — to get home-court advantage.”

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