Brown scores 29, Celtics hold off late rally by Hawks 112-99

BOSTON (AP) —After an opener that went from rout to flirting with catastrophe,the Boston Celtics got both a win and an early reminder of howlulls could spell doom in the playoffs.

JaylenBrownhad 29 points and 12rebounds,and the Celtics capitalized on a woeful shootingperformance by the Atlanta Hawks to hold on for 112-99 victory inGame 1 of the Eastern Conference first-round matchup onSaturday.

Jayson Tatumscored 25 points, 21 in the first half. Derrick White finished with25 points and 11 rebounds for Boston, which hosts Game 2 onTuesday.

“We expect toget their best shot,” Brown said. “We let them get a little morecomfortable in the second half, so I expect the next game for themto be a little more prepared. So we’ve got to be a little moreprepared as well.”

It wasBrown’s first game since missing the final two of the regularseason with a cut on a finger on his shooting hand. He played withtape and wrap.

He playedthrough pain, hitting on 12 of 23 field goal attempts, but had sixturnovers. He said it as hard to grip the ball and his hand “splitopen” at one point. It will be examined Sunday.

The No.2-seeded Celtics led by as many as 32 points, pouncing on anAtlanta team that missed its first 10 3-point attempts and shot 5of 29 from beyond the arc for the game.

Atlanta useda 32-12 run to cut the deficit to 96-84 on a three-point play byBogdan Bogdanovic early in the fourth.

The Celticsgot the lead back up to 107-87. It was 110-97 with less than twominutes to play when Atlanta’s De’Andre Hunter got free on fastbreak. But his layup attempt was blocked by Marcus Smart.

“Human natureplays a part. But we don’t want things like that to haunt us,”Tatum said.

Smart, lastseason’s NBA Defensive Player of Year, finished with three stealsand two blocks.

DejounteMurray led the Hawks with 24 points, eight rebounds and sixassists. Trae Young added 16 points.

“You can’t bedown that much and expect to come back and win,” Young said. “Butwe still fought. We were being aggressive in that second half.”

DespiteAtlanta’s late push, the Celtics sizzled from all points on thefloor, connecting on 13 3 pointers.

Afterdropping in his third 3-pointer in the closing seconds of the firsthalf, Tatumspread his arms outwideas he backed down the court to an ovation from the TDGarden crowd.

A big part ofBoston’s game plan coming in was neutralizing Young and Murray,Atlanta’s top two scorers. The Celtics did that and a lot more inthe first three quarters.

Young missedhis first six shots beyond the arc and was 5 of 18 from the field.Murray was 10 of 25 from the floor.

In a move tomatch Atlanta’s speed, Boston went small, starting White instead ofbig man Robert Williams in a lineup alongside Al Horford, Tatum,Brown and Smart.

It seemed toneutralize the Hawks’ attack.

Young had anespecially rough start. He had a pass the first possession of thegame stolen by Brown and had his first field goal attempt blockedby White on the way to missing his first six shots.

Atlanta coachQuin Snyder said before the game a point of emphasis would be notto turn down open 3s or be deterred by misses.

That wish wastested as Hawks shot 9 of 25 from the field in the opening periodand 0 for 9 from beyond the arc as the Celtics took to a 29-19lead.

Despite thelate drop-off, Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said he’s not worriedabout the late-game malaise carrying over.

“I’m notconcerned at all,” he said. “This team has played great for theentire season. That’s going to happen. It’s actually good that wewent through it. We had to feel that and it’s important that welearn from it.”

TIP-INS

Hawks:Outscored the Celtics 31-20 in the third quarter. … Young’s28-footer early in the second quarter was Atlanta’s first made 3 ofthe game. Atlanta shot 1 of 16 from 3 in the first half.

Celtics:Outscored Hawks 45-25 in second quarter. …Tatum had 13first-quarter points. … The seats inside TD Garden were draped withT-shirts that read “Unfinished Business,” a reference to Boston’srun last season that came up short in its NBA Finals’ loss toGolden State. The “I” and “S” in unfinished were both highlighted,with the “S” fashioned to look like an “8,” a nod to the 18thchampionship being sought by the franchise.