Hawks stumble at home against Celtics

The Hawks’ rise came earlier this month in the form of seven consecutive home victories.

This must be the fall.

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Johnny Crawford/AJC

Boston’s Ray Allen puts heavy defensive pressure on the Hawks’ Joe Johnson during the Celtics’ victory Friday night.

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Because after dominating any and everyone that set foot on the Philips Arena floor earlier this month, the Hawks have suddenly run out of gas on their home court.

Boston schooled them 99-93 before a sellout crowd of 20,054 on Friday night, handing the Hawks their second straight home loss and their third loss in four games overall.

Not even the Hawks’ furious late rally from a 20-point fourth-quarter deficit in the final minutes could wipe away the stain of this defeat. And they were within four points twice in the final minute, only to have Paul Pierce and Ray Allen finish them off with free throws.

“We got outplayed in the first three quarters of the game, really embarrassed to tell you the truth,” said Hawks forward Josh Smith. “We played Hawks basketball for the final eight minutes or so, but we were already down 17 points by then. Being down to a championship team, it’s kind of difficult to win the game.”

It was the right kind of effort but about 20 minutes late for the Hawks, who fall to 42-31 on the season.

The Celtics (55-19) played without All-Star power forward Kevin Garnett, who sat out the game with a sore right knee, the same right knee that recently cost him 13 straight games.

Friday night’s humbling came two days after Tony Parker and the San Antonio Spurs, sans their All-Star big man Tim Duncan, dished out a similar beating.

But instead of being shredded by an All-Star like Parker, the Hawks were roasted by Garnett’s understudy, Glen “Big Baby” Davis and a perfectly executed game plan by Celtics coach Doc Rivers and his staff.

They vowed not to let Hawks captain and All-Star Joe Johnson beat them and they didn’t. They kept Johnson off balance most of the night with quick double-teams and forced the Hawks’ offense into scramble mode from the start.

Smith led the Hawks with 22 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and three blocks. Johnson shook off a slow start and finished with 22, six rebounds and four assists. Mike Bibby added 19. Flip Murray added 11 off the bench but on 4-for-13 shooting.

The big lineup — Zaza Pachulia, Al Horford and Smith across the frontline — the Hawks used to combat the Celtics strength and size was never a factor. The Hawks never attacked inside.

“That was the plan, but it never panned out,” Horford said. “And I feel like when we attack inside out we have good stuff. But if we’re not established early, it’s kind of hard to get it going in the third and fourth quarter. We had the matchups we wanted and just didn’t take advantage of them.”

Davis had a double-double by halftime and finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds. His performance personified the type of effort the Celtics used to beat the Hawks down for most of the night.

“We just went out there and played basketball,” Davis said. “No matter who’s injured or who’s hurt, we have to step up and play big. Our job is to go out there and play the game the way it’s supposed to be played.”

If he meant smothering the Hawks on defense and outhustling them over every inch of the floor the entire night, that’s exactly what the Celtics did.

“We didn’t play until the five-minute mark of the fourth quarter,” Hawks coach Mike Woodson said. “And you can’t beat a team like Boston when you don’t start playing until then. I thought they were the more aggressive team.”

How the Hawks could come out flat in a game of this magnitude is stunning, considering their recent history with the Celtics.

Try it again Sunday afternoon against the Lakers, and they’ll face a similarly difficult path to victory.

“We had two glaring opportunities and we didn’t take advantage,” Mo Evans said. “Now we have to go up against a team, that once again is one of the best in the NBA. These games are turning into must-wins if we want to secure that fourth spot in the playoff race. And everybody behind us is not going to keep bailing us out by losing and making it easy for us to maintain our position.”