ATLANTA -- The Atlanta Hawks gave away a 19-point lead to the Boston Celtics Saturday night, but were rescued by the clutch play of Jeff Teague in the final 3 ½ minutes and held off the Celtics, 102-101, in Game 1 of a first round Eastern Conference playoff game at Philips Arena.
The score was tied 88-88 when Teague fed Al Horford for a layup. The Atlanta point guard then stole the ball and took it to the other end and fed Paul Millsap under the basket for a 92-88 lead with 2 minutes, 56 seconds to play.
Atlanta stayed in control the rest of the way with free throws, including two by Teague with 5.2 seconds to play that gave the Hawks a 102-98 lead.
Al Horford led Atlanta with 24 points. Kent Bazemore and Teague had 23 each.
Isaiah Thomas led the Celtics with 27.
The Celtics suffered a blow when guard Avery Bradley had to be helped to the locker room with a strained right hamstring with 6 minutes, 42 seconds to play. The Celtics guard did not return to the game. He played 33 minutes and had 18 points.
When these two teams met here April 9, the Celtics scored 71 points in the first half. Atlanta had none of that Saturday night. Boston had 34 points at the half and shot a miserable 23.1% from the field.
The Hawks did two things very well on defense in the first half. They shut off the lane from Thomas and forced the Celtics point guard to shoot awkwardly when he got into the paint. At the same time, the Hawks muscled Crowder and made him shoot 1 of 10 from the field the first two quarters.
The Celtics trailed by 19 in the first half, but turned the tables defensively on Atlanta in the second half and actually took a three-point lead.
