Hawks 123, Celtics 111 2OT
ATLANTA -- The Boston Celtics rammed it down the throats of the Atlanta Hawks in the first quarter Friday night at Philips Arena, but the Hawks reeled off a 31-point third quarter, and Kyle Korver hit five fourth-quarter 3-point shots as the Hawks won 123-111 in double overtime.
The Celtics have lost six straight games.
Korver, who had only three points on free throws in the first half, found his 3-point stroke in the third quarter. Then at 8:53 in the fourth quarter, his 24-foot jumper briefly put the Hawks ahead 80-77, their first lead since shortly after the opening tip.
Korver finished with a season-high 27 points, including eight 3-point baskets.
Al Horford had 24 points and 13 rebounds and Jeff Teague had 23 points. Josh Smith had two points, five rebounds and one technical foul in the first quarter, but finished with 17 points and 14 rebounds.
Kevin Garnett led the Celtics with 24 points and 10 rebounds, fouling out in the second overtime. Rajon Rondo had 14 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, his fifth triple-double of the season. Avery Bradley scored 14 points; Paul Pierce had 12 points and six rebounds.
Jeff Green had 17 points and six rebounds off the bench, and Courtney Lee added 16 bench points and seven rebounds.
The Celtics (20-23) played Thursday night -- losing to the New York Knicks 89-86 -- and didn't get to Atlanta until 2:30 a.m., but the Hawks (25-18) were the ones who came out as though they were asleep. They missed 18 of 20 shots in the first quarter, shooting 17.4 percent to the Celtics' 55 percent, spotting the Celtics a 19-point lead, 29-10.
The Celtics built the lead to 27 points in the second half but the Hawks were able to trim the deficit to 16 points with 53 seconds left in the half, 54-38.
But then Josh Smith missed a 16-foot fade-away jumper and the half ended with the Celtics up 57-38.
The Hawks had only six fastbreak points in the first half but finished the game with 34.
Notes: Al Horford (sore left calf) and Zaza Pachulia (sore right Achilles) were both available for the game; neither one traveled to Charlotte for Wednesday's 104-92 win over the Bobcats. Nevertheless, Hawks coach Larry Drew gave Ivan Johnson his second straight NBA start, at center. "He has a presence when he's in the game," Drew said, "and I want to ride his energy. Horford started at the 4 position and Josh Smith started at the 3. ... Drew started Kyle Korver over Devin Harris because of Korver's shooting ability, but acknowledged he was giving up Harris's speed by doing that. ... Drew called it "unfortunate" that Smith was not selected to the All-Star game. "I think he's having a phenomenal year. And I've said it before: Few players in the league can impact the game on both ends of the floor the way he can. He can defend all five positions. I've put him in a position where he had to defend all five positions in one game." ... The Celtics arrived in Atlanta about 2:30 a.m. after having lost to the Knicks Thursday night. Jason Terry said there was no shootaround, nor was there a walk-through at the team hotel. ... The Hawks travel to New York to play the Knicks on Sunday while the Celtics will host the Miami Heat.
