Mike Bibby watches the final minutes of last night’s game from the bench after another poor performance.

The Journal / Glenn Osmundson

BOSTON — Most sports figures want to be the heroes for their team and their city.

Atlanta guard Mike Bibby, however, has been labeled a villain several times in his NBA career.

He certainly has been the villain of the Celtics’ first-round playoff series with the Hawks, which Boston leads, 2-0, after last night’s 96-77 victory.

But Boston’s fans booed Bibby every time he touched the ball last night, and their nonstop heckling has certainly affected his play.

“I knew it was going to happen,” Bibby said. “They played a good game. I wasn’t worried about the crowd.”

After scoring just five points and shooting just 2-for-10 in Game One, Bibby, who entered the series averaging 17.9 points per game in the playoffs in his career, was held to 12 points (3 rebounds, 1 assists) last night on 2-for-7 shooting and was outplayed again by Boston second-year guard Rajon Rondo (12 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds).

“I didn’t make anything happen for my team,” Bibby said. “We can’t put the ball in the basket. They’re making it tough for us on the strong side. We have to go back and watch film and counter it, see how they are playing us and get easier shots for everybody else.”

Boston fans heckled Bibby last night for the disparaging statements he made about Celtics fans on Tuesday when he called them “fair-weather fans” and “bandwagon jumpers.”

“The people know who I’m talking about,” Bibby said. “If everybody thinks they are bandwagon jumpers, then everybody in the crowd is now bandwagon jumpers. They know who they are. If they took offense to it, then they must be part of it.”

While the Celtics drew solid numbers last season despite their dismal 24-58 record, Bibby said that when he visited Boston on Jan. 19, when he was playing for Sacramento, the TD Banknorth Garden was nearly empty. The actual attendance for that game, however, was 16,019.

The Celtics sold out every game this season, and have gone from one of the worst teams in the NBA to potentially the best.

“Fair-weather fans, if you ask me,” Bibby told the reporters who attended the Hawks’ practice on Tuesday.

“I remember them having bags on their heads,” Bibby said. “Are they the ones that had bags on their heads last year? It’s just a different look, but I guess that happens when you win.”

Bibby’s comments stemmed from being heckled in Game One and during a shopping trip to Boston’s Copley Square Mall on Monday.

Bibby said last night that he stands by his comments.

“I wasn’t talking to everybody, really,” Bibby said. “They were heckling me at the end of the game, and the people were talking to me at the mall. They know who I’m talking about.”

Bibby wouldn’t comment on what was said at the mall.

“It’s not important,” he said.

When asked if he regretted calling Celtics fans bandwagon jumpers, Bibby said, “No, not at all. Do you think I should? If I said it, I meant it.”

Boston starting forward Kendrick Perkins certainly didn’t like Bibby’s comments about Boston’s fans.

“I mean, coming off a 2-for-10 night shooting, he would say something like that? …We’ve got the best fans in the world, so we don’t expect other players from other teams to like our fans,” Perkins said Tuesday.

Last night Bibby said Perkins had no right to call him out.

“Kendrick Perkins had something to say about me, and I don’t know where all of a sudden he got this tough streak from, but his stat line was worse than mine,” Bibby said.

Perkins scored three points on 1-for-3 shooting in Game One. He tallied eight points (9 rebounds) on 2-for-5 shooting last night.

“You know you look at it and I might have had a game like that, but I haven’t really seen [Perkins] do much in his career, so until he does something or shows me something, I really don’t think he should say anything,” Bibby said.

When told about Bibby’s comments last night, Perkins said, “Man I ain’t got no comment for him. I mean, whatever. I’m just trying to win the game, so I ain’t got nothing for him.”

Bibby said he had no idea that his comments were going to cause such a huge reaction from Celtics Nation, but he added that they should take a lot of pressure off his teammates.

“I’m not meaning to cause this much problems,” Bibby said. “I’m not going to take my words back. The only thing I’m worried about now is going out there and trying to push my team to a victory.”

roblee@projo.com