Celtics fly right vs. Hawks

ATLANTA -- Danny Ainge still may not be ''results-oriented." Doc Rivers, however, most definitely is.

Last night, the Celtics coach put the Baby Bulls on the bench and went with his time-tested veterans -- including an exceedingly rare Brian Scalabrine sighting -- and it paid off in a rewarding, occasionally nerve-racking, 98-94 victory over the pesky Atlanta Hawks.

The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Celtics -- the last two being of the gut-wrenching variety -- and enabled them to avoid being the first Eastern Conference team to be swept by the Hawks since the pre-LeBron Cavs of 2002-03.

This was another root canal. The Celtics played an atrocious first half, or, shall we say, an atrocious first 22 minutes, during which they allowed 62 points in falling behind by 16. But the game started to turn in the final two minutes, when the Celtics ran off 7 straight points and basically forced Rivers to continue to go with the guys that got him that far. And he did.

That meant bye-bye to Big Al Jefferson, who played a season-low six minutes (his previous low was nine). And bye-bye Kendrick Perkins, who played 15 minutes, but only three-plus in the second half. Raef LaFrentz started, played eight uneventful first-half minutes, and then never returned. His previous low was 14.

And it meant saying hello, at last, to Scalabrine. He played 28 minutes; his previous high was 19. He played the entire second half, save for an 83-second breather at the start of the fourth quarter. And while his numbers don't jump out like those of Paul Pierce (27 points) or Ricky Davis (21), it probably can be said that the Celtics' marquee free agent signee of the summer made his 2005-06 debut in Game 35 with 4 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist and, most likely, a lot of oxygen afterward.

''That's the most I've played in, what, six months?" he said. ''But it's easy for a guy like myself, who is not going to get numbers, to be playing with guys like Paul, Ricky, Mark [Blount], and Delonte [West]. That way, I can sneak in and get whatever I can get, and I'm OK with that."

Scalabrine had no inkling this was coming. After his celebrated cameo in Washington Saturday, when he made a huge 3-pointer, he was back on the bench Monday, playing just 26 seconds. Rivers, however, said he had talked with the coaching staff about using Scalabrine ''because we wanted some kind of size." More than that, he wanted someone with size who also had smarts. Rivers decided Scalabrine was going to be that guy.

When the Celtics came out for the second half, Scalabrine, who had been on the floor at the end of the first half, was out there. That was a seismic shift. In the second half, the Celtics' veteran-dominated unit communicated like teenagers on text messaging. They held the Hawks to 32 points -- the same amount Atlanta scored in the first quarter -- and to 33 percent shooting.

''The way Atlanta was talking and switching, I needed to go with veterans," Rivers said. ''I felt we had to get this game and then worry about the next one."

But even with all the dicey subplots, this one still almost slipped away. And, let's remember, it was Atlanta, which, while improved over the 0-9 unit of November, is still the team with the fewest wins in the conference. But we're talking any port in a storm. The Celtics needed this one.

The Hawks' 9-point halftime lead was sliced and diced, but with 5:20 remaining, the annoying Zaza Pachulia put back a Joe Johnson miss to give Atlanta a 90-82 lead. In the three games against the Celtics this season, Pachulia has corralled 17 offensive rebounds. In those same three games, the Celtics team has 21. Pachulia led six Hawks in double figures with 18.

But Scalabrine then converted a baseline layup with 4:24 to play, kicking off a decisive 16-4 run. Davis had half of the 16, including a big 3-pointer after Scalabrine's layup and then a conventional 3-point play with 1:40 left that gave Boston a 94-92 lead, its first since 13-12.

On Boston's next possession, Pierce missed, but Scalabrine waltzed in alone and had an easy putback. As he put it afterward, ''I had to take advantage of crashing the glass. The ball really came my way. I was fortunate." The 4-point lead was Boston's largest of the game.

Atlanta got back within 96-94 and missed a chance for a tie when Al Harrington (16 points) was called for a charge with seven seconds left. Davis then made two free throws to seal the deal and the Celtics could finally exhale.

After what they'd been through the last two games, you might say they had this one coming.