Boston sat just about everyone you can think of as Atlanta edged ever closer to hosting the C's in the first round of the playoffs.
The familiar site of empty seats will be replaced by a frenzied atmosphere if the Hawks stay on course for hosting the Celtics in the first round. This is Atlanta's Ivan Johnson dunking, by the way.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.
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, Boston guard Avery Bradley scored 17 of his career-high 28 and both teams combined to make 23 of 38 shots over the first two quarters (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 homecourt advantage came into play. They each played 5:22 in the final quarter as the unsung Celtics made life difficult.
“That was certainly wavering,” Drew said. “It was a situation of making a decision of just trying to solidify the homecourt position.”
Dooling finished with 17 points and Marquis Daniels added 12.
The Hawks (38-25) have the fourth-best record in the East, which would give them home court in a 4-5 matchup against Boston (37-27) even though the Celtics are locked into the No. 4 seed by virtue of having clinched the Atlantic Division title.
If the teams finish with the same record, Boston would gain homecourt against Atlanta by virtue of being a division champion. Plus, it beat the Hawks in two of three regular-season meetings.
The Celtics may be back to full roster strength in time for their game in Boston on Tuesday against the Heat.
“It has to help our team in the long run,” Rivers said of resting key players. “I just think when your team plays like that, it gives (reserves) a lot of confidence, and it gives the guys that didn’t play a lot of confidence in them, which is huge.”
Notes: Hawks starting center Zaza Pachulia missed his fourth straight game with a sprained left foot. In his place, Jason Collins had a season-high eight points and seven rebounds ... The Celtics signed 6-foot-10 center/forward Sean Williams, who averaged 15.2 points, 8.9 rebounds and 2.5 blocked shots for the Texas Legends of the D-League. Williams, who played at Boston College, averaged 3.6 points and 1.6 rebounds for Dallas. He was drafted by the Nets 17th overall in 2007, and has career averages of 4.3 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.2 blocks. He had a rebound in 3-plus minutes Friday. To make room, Boston requested waivers on injured center/forward Jermaine O’Neal.