Final: Celtics 110, Hawks 99

It wasn't pretty early, but the Celtics found a way to pull out their 15th straight game on Saturday night. The visitors rallied from a 17-point deficit for the second consecutive game, but this time managed to pull away late from the Hawks and escape with a 110-99 victory.

Jaylen Brown led the way in his hometown with a career-high 27 points on 10-of-13 shooting (4-of-5 from 3-point range) while Kyrie Irving had his best shooting night in a Celtics uniform (30 points on 10-of-12 shooting). The dynamic backcourt combined to score over half of Boston's points on the night, carrying the team through their biggest rally of the night, a season-high 36 point fourth quarter, which helped pave the way for a dominant second half turnaround.

The victory makes the Celtics winning streak the fifth longest in franchise history. Only 24 teams in NBA history have had a winning streak longer than 15 games.

THIRD QUARTER THOUGHTS

• 36 points for the Celtics, which was their highest offensive output in a quarter this season.


• Jaylen Brown led the way posting a game-high 22 points through three quarters on 8-of-10 shooting and 4-0f-5 shooting from downtown.


• Jayson Tatum went nearly back-to-back with phenomenal right handed power dunks, including one play when he went coast-to-coast around multiple Hawks defenders.


• Kyrie Irving having no problems with the mask tonight, going 7-of-9 from the field on an array of 3-point jumpers and spectacular moves on the way to the rim.


• Celtics outscored the Hawks 60-42 in the middle two quarters.

• Marcus squared (Morris and Smart) really stabilized things in the first half of the second quarter, scoring all 11 points in an 11-2 run for Boston to make it a game again.


• The C's have had a nice habit of going on efficient incredibly quick runs throughout the season they have allowed them to erase double-digit deficits in mere moments. It's helped them avoid having to play desperate catch up late in games all year long when facing early big leads.


• Smart made his first two 3-pointers of the night. Naturally, he took a couple more heat checks to end the quarter and missed both.


• More 3-second violations called in this game than I think I've ever seen in my life.

• The Hawks were red-hot in their first matchup with the C's this season and nothing has changed through the first quarter tonight. 35 points on 62 percent shooting thus far as the visitors have provided some resistance on certain possessions but the Hawks have kept making shots anyway


• Taurean Prince and Kent Bazemore are a perfect 6-of-6 from the field and they combined to score 19 of the first 35 point s for the Hawks.


• Lots of foul trouble early on, as C's piled up eight fouls, including a pair from the bigs in Horford and Baynes.


• Hot start for Jaylen Brown, who scored first seven points of game for Boston


• Celtics' offense really started to fall apart when Marcus Morris hit the bench. A few sloppy passes (five turnovers) mixed in as well that led to easy Hawks buckets.


• Early minutes for Shane Larkin as Stevens tried to find some offensive rhythm early on.

• Brad Stevens told reporters in Atlanta that Jaylen Brown flew down to Atlanta ahead of the team on Friday to spend time with the family of his friend after his tragic death earlier this week. He's expected to play on Saturday night.


• The Celtics will match the best start in franchise history since 2009 (15-2) with a win over the Hawks tonight.


• Atlanta is coming off their biggest win of the season, a 35-point blowout win at home against the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday night. They also are expected to receive some bench reinforcements for the contest in the form of DeAndre Bembry, who had been sidelined with a fractured right wrist. Isaiah Taylor and Luke Babbitt are questionable to play in the contest.


• Stevens is still not pleased with the C's level of play in the midst of a 14-game winning streak. "We haven't played well enough to consider this win streak to be valid in my opinion," Stevens told reporters in Atlanta at Saturday's shootaround. "We've figured out ways to win games. We gotta play a lot better." Stevens can point to the team's offense as an area of potential growth as the Celtics rank 23rd in offensive efficiency heading into Saturday's game.