Kyrie Irving scored 32 points and the Boston Celtics rallied to beat the Hawks 113-105 at State Farm Arena on Saturday night.
Kevin Huerter led the Hawks with 18 points, and fellow rookie Trae Young had 16.
Huerter continued to shine in his fill-in starting role while Kent Bazemore recovers from a sprained right ankle. Huerter has made 45.5 percent of his 3-point attempts to lead all NBA qualifying rookies. He made 4 of 10 3s against the Celtics.
After trailing for most of the game, Boston took the lead with a 9-0 fourth-quarter run, including a go-ahead 3-pointer by Jaylen Brown, who had 14 points.
A drive by Irving gave the Celtics the lead for good at 101-100. Al Horford made four free throws and a layup to help Boston increase its advantage to 109-100 with 1:11 left.
Minutes after he was called for his first technical following his fourth foul about three minutes into the third quarter, the Celtics’ Marcus Smart was ejected following an altercation with Atlanta's DeAndre Bembry.
Smart and Bembry had to be separated after an exchange of words as players lined up for a jump ball. After being restrained by teammates and coaches, Smart broke free and charged toward Bembry before being restrained again.
Bembry also was called for a technical foul following a video review.
One night after scoring 38 points in a 122-116 home win over Memphis, Irving continued his high-scoring streak by going 5 for 8 from 3-point range. He pulled the Celtics back from a 50-34 deficit by scoring 15 of Boston's final 19 points of the half. The Hawks led 67-60 at the break.
The Hawks answered Irving's one-man scoring show with a more balanced attack that stood up until the final quarter.
Boston's Jayson Tatum opened the game with a three-point play. The Hawks scored the next 10 points and kept the lead until Brown's 3-pointer with 9:07 remaining gave Boston a 95-93 edge.
Tatum had 19 points and Horford had 13.
John Collins and Alex Len each had 15 points for the Hawks.
Collins (bronchitis-like symptoms) and Young (flu-like symptoms) started after being upgraded before the game.
Hawks center Dewayne Dedmon (left ankle sprain) had six points in 24 minutes in his return after missing two games.
The Hawks host the Magic on Monday.
