ATLANTA – When the Boston Celtics played the Atlanta Hawks on Friday night, it might have been a precursor to an NBA playoff series, but it certainly didn’t qualify as a “preview.”
Joe Johnson scored 30 points as Atlanta edged the short-handed Celtics 97-92 to take a step toward securing a home-court edge against Boston in the first round of the playoffs.
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But the Celtics hardly looked like themselves.
Starters Rajon Rondo, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett and key reserves Ray Allen and Mickael Pietrus did not play. On top of that, there wasn’t much defense from either team in the first half as Atlanta took a 58-49 lead.
Johnson scored 23 points over the first two quarters, Boston guard Avery Bradley scored 17 of his career-high 28, and both teams combined to make 23 of 38 shots (60.5 percent).
Rondo, Allen and Pietrus stayed in Boston with injuries, and Celtics Coach Doc Rivers gave Garnett and Pierce rest after playing 11 games in 15 days.
Still, Boston had more energy even with several rarely used players getting big minutes, and the Celtics pulled within one point five times in the fourth quarter before Johnson’s three-point play with 1:56 left gave Atlanta a 90-86 lead.
The Hawks held on, but they were not so happy about it afterward.
“For us, it definitely sits a little uneasy,” Johnson said. “I don’t feel like we brought our ‘A’ game.”
Bradley, who moved into Allen’s starting spot at the shooting guard position several weeks ago when Allen began battling problems with a surgically repaired ankle, moved into Rondo’s point guard position and gave the Hawks fits.
He scored 12 points in the first quarter and surprised the Hawks in a variety of ways while besting his previous career high of 23 points.
“When … you come out and pretty much right before the game find out that (Garnett and Pierce) are not going to play . . . I don’t know if it does something to you mentally, but it makes them that much (more) unpredictable,” said Hawks forward Josh Smith, who had 19 points and 12 rebounds.
“Bradley played outstanding for them. I didn’t know he had that much in his game.”
The Hawks lost a home game earlier this season when Miami Heat stars Dwyane Wade and LeBron James did not play, and there was danger of a repeat Friday, especially when Keyon Dooling scored on a layup with 2:33 left to close the deficit to 87-86. Johnson’s three-point play came moments later.
Hawks Coach Larry Drew said he considered leaving Johnson and Smith on the bench late in the interest of getting them some rest, but the prospect of moving toward home-court advantage came into play. They each played 5:22 in the final quarter as the unsung Celtics made life difficult.
The Hawks (38-25) have the fourth-best record in the East, which as long as they finish with a better record than Boston (37-27) would give them home court in a 4-5 match-up against the Celtics even though the Celtics are going to be considered a top four seed by virtue of having clinched the Atlantic Division title.
If the teams finish with the same record, Boston would be considered the fourth seed (behind the Pacers) and gain home court against Atlanta by virtue of being a division champion.
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