Celtics rout Hawks to stay perfect

With their unblemished start, the Celtics brought back memories of the days of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish Friday night.

Boston improved to 4-0 with a 106-83 victory over the Hawks at TD Banknorth Garden, becoming the 18th edition in franchise history to begin a season with four wins. It’s the best start since the Celtics went 6-0 during the 1987-88 season, when Bird, McHale, and Parish were the star trio.

The Celtics and the Clippers (4-0) are the NBA’s only undefeated teams. In case you’re wondering, Boston’s franchise-best start is 14-0 in 1957-58.

Forward Kevin Garnett nearly posted his second 20-20 of the season with a game-high 27 points, 19 rebounds, and 6 assists. Forward Paul Pierce scored 23 points, while reserve guard Eddie House added 19.

Coach Doc Rivers was scheduled to fly to Chicago after the game to attend the funeral of his father, Grady, Saturday morning.

There is an old English proverb that goes: ‘‘Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t know.’’ The devil Pierce said the Celtics didn’t know was the Hawks.

The Celtics’ first three games were against playoff teams from a season ago: Washington, Toronto, and Denver. The struggling Hawks, however, presented an unknown challenge for Boston.

The Hawks have not been to the playoffs since 1999, and the high-flying, winning days of Dominique Wilkins are long gone. Even though ex-Celtic Joe Johnson is a marquee player, his quiet nature and his team’s lack of success have kept him from the spotlight. The Hawks are not scheduled to be on TNT or ESPN this season. And Atlanta, which was coming off a win over Western power Phoenix, started two rookies, Al Horford and Acie Law.

Pierce said before the game he expected the Celtics to have a ‘‘really ready mentality,’’ but still had some concerns about Atlanta.

‘‘The scariest thing about this team or any team is a team with no identity,’’ Pierce said. ‘‘You really don’t know what to expect. We play Jersey [tonight]. We exx pect [Jason] Kidd, RJ [Richard Jefferson], and Vince [Carter], those guys, to get the ball and try to have big games. You know what they are going to do.

‘‘You got a team like the Atlanta Hawks ..... they don’t have an identity right now. Those are the teams that can sneak up on you.’’

The Hawks fulfilled Pierce’s concerns at the start as the score was tied at 18. Boston, however, finished the first quarter with a 6-1 run to take a 24-19 lead after a strong layup by Pierce with 18.6 seconds left. Garnett had 13 points and eight rebounds in the first.

But in the first minute of the second quarter, Garnett was nailed for two offensive fouls and landed on the bench. With Garnett and Pierce sitting, Johnson’s runner in the lane gave Atlanta its first lead, 27-26, 8:20 before the half.

Pierce reentered and joined Ray Allen on the floor with 6:48 left and Boston up, 32-31. Garnett returned with the Celtics ahead, 35-31, and 6:16 left. A Pierce jumper completed a 6-2 run that pushed the Celtics ahead, 41-33, with 4:49 remaining. Allen went to the bench with three fouls after fouling Salim Stoudamire on a 3-pointer with 3:43 left. But the Celtics steadied themselves and finished the half with a 55-41 lead.

The Celtics shot a blistering 63.6 percent and nailed four 3-pointers in the half. Pierce had 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting and four free throws. But Boston also hurt its cause by allowing 15 points off 12 turnovers.

A Marvin Williams alley-oop dunk with 2:29 left in the third quarter trimmed Atlanta’s deficit to 67-59. But the Celtics completed the third with a 7-2 run to earn a 74-61 advantage. Between the third and fourth quarters, the crowd went wild as Red Sox manager Terry Francona held a basketball in the air while Celtics mascot Lucky jumped off a trampoline to grab it and do a forward flip before dunking.

A 3-point play by House with 10:32 left in the fourth gave Boston a comfortable 79-63 lead. The Celtics’ biggest concern was not the Hawks, but a concussion suffered by Brian Scalabrine.
With Boston up, 89-72, and 5:51 remaining, Horford accidentally backhanded Scalabrine hard in the face with his right hand. With Scalabrine on the floor in pain, the Celtics called time out. Scalabrine eventually got up and walked to the locker room.

With 3:53 left and the Celtics up, 93-75, Garnett left the game. The appreciative fans gave him a standing ovation as if he had reached 20-20.

Marc J. Spears can be reached at mspears@globe.com.