BOSTON (AP) — Isaiah Thomas scored 28 points, hitting a corner 3-pointer with 30 seconds left in overtime and then adding a pair of clinching free throws as the Boston Celtics beat the Hawks 104-95 on Sunday night to send their first-round playoff series back to Atlanta tied two games apiece.
Paul Millsap scored 45 for the Hawks — a career playoff high and one off his all-time best — and added 13 rebounds.
Marcus Smart scored 20 points — including 11 straight for Boston in the fourth quarter — and Jonas Jerebko had 16 points and 10 rebounds.
Game 5 is Tuesday night in Atlanta.
The Celtics led by four with under a minute to play in regulation when Jeff Teague hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give Atlanta the lead. But Thomas, who avoided a suspension after taking a swipe at Atlanta’s Dennis Schroder in Game 3, drove for a layup to tie it 92-all with 15 seconds left.
The Hawks had a chance to win in regulation before Teague dribbled out the clock without getting off a clean shot.
Boston’s Amir Johnson scored the first five points of overtime. Teague kept Atlanta in it with a fourth-chance 3-pointer with 3:44 left but the Hawks did not score again. (Kent Bazemore did hit a 3-pointer at the shot clock buzzer that was originally counted but overturned on replay.)
It was still 97-95 with 94 seconds left when Evan Turner, who finished with 17 points, made a jumper. Thomas got open in the right corner and made a 3-pointer to give Boston a seven-point lead.
Teague, who started the game 1 for 10 from the floor, had only 13 points, but he made a 3 with 50 seconds left to make it a one-point game and another with 21 seconds to play to give the Hawks the lead.
Thomas scored a career-high 42 points in Game 3 when the series came to Boston and the Celtics avoided a 3-0 deficit. But he spent a night worrying whether he would be suspended for taking a swing at Schroder in the first quarter; he got the word Saturday afternoon that he would be able to play.
For having the temerity to put his face in the path of Thomas’ open hand, Schroder was booed when he entered the game, then greeted with a profane cheer that mispronounced his name. He was given a technical foul with 0.6 seconds left in the first half when he shoved Jae Crowder off him.
Thomas missed the foul shot, leaving the halftime score 48-46, Atlanta.
In all, the Hawks scored 13 of the last 18 points in the first half and then the first 14 in the second, turning a six-point deficit into a 16-point lead.
Jerebko had a pair of 3-pointers in the last 90 seconds of the third quarter and the first two baskets of the fourth to help Boston turn an 11-point deficit into a 74-73 lead.
TIP-INS
Hawks: Millsap had 26 points in the first half and surpassed his previous playoff high of 29 before the first timeout in the third quarter.
Celtics: Some of the biggest cheers were for the Patriots sitting courtside: Owner Bob Kraft, coach Bill Belichick, tight end Rob Gronkowski and running back LeGarrette Blount. … Kelly Olynyk returned to the court after missing the previous two games with a shoulder injury. He played four minutes and had zero points and two rebounds.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.