BOSTON — Isaiah Thomas scored a career-high 42 points, and the Boston Celtics held on to beat the Atlanta Hawks 111-103 on Friday night in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference first-round series.

Evan Turner, inserted into the starting lineup, had 17 points and seven assists. Amir Johnson added 15 points and seven rebounds as the Celtics closed to 2-1 in the best-of-seven series.

Playing by far their best first half of the series, Boston led by as many as 20 points before seeing that erased by a 12-0 run by the Hawks in the third quarter.

The Celtics then survived a frenetic fourth quarter that featured three ties and a pair of lead changes, finally getting separation with five straight points for a 104-98 lead.

Jeff Teague had 23 points for Atlanta. Kent Bazemore and Dennis Schroder each finished with 20.

Game 4 is Sunday in Boston.

In an effort to find some early energy following lethargic opening quarters in Games 1 and 2, Celtics Coach Brad Stevens tweaked his lineup. He started Turner in place of Marcus Smart, and Jonas Jerebko got the nod over Jared Sullinger.

It meant the Celtics were a much smaller team, but it also translated into a group that was a lot quicker and active.

That showed early, with the first points of the game coming via Jerebko on a tip-dunk off a missed layup by Thomas. Boston used the jolt to build its double-digit first-half lead.

The Hawks whittled away at the deficit with a balanced attack but shot just 12 percent from the 3-point line in the opening 24 minutes.

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