Celts fall to the Hawks

Boston — Jaylen Brown could see the fourth quarter well enough from the Boston bench to know he wasn't worried about the Celtics' recent stumbles. "If we would have played our normal rotation, we would have won that game," he said Sunday after coach Brad Stevens rested his starters and watched the subs blow a 13-point, fourth-quarter lead to the Atlanta Hawks. "No doubt about it."

Taurean Prince made seven of eight 3-pointers to score 33 points, getting help from Isaiah Taylor and Dewayne Dedmon down the stretch to help the last-place Hawks beat the playoff-bound Celtics 112-106.

With the No. 2 spot in the Eastern Conference already locked up, Stevens left Brown, Al Horford, Jayson Tatum and Terry Rozier on the bench for the entire fourth quarter and Boston lost for the third time in four games.

"I think Brad made a good call," Brown said. "(The backups) got an opportunity and it was well-deserved."

Rozier had 10 points, nine assists and eight rebounds for Boston, which had beaten Atlanta in the other three meetings this season. Tatum scored 19, Horford had 16 and Greg Monroe scored 17 for the Celtics, who are without Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward for the rest of the season and Marcus Smart for the start of the playoffs.

"Let young guys play in the fourth," Stevens said. "Bench play is going to be huge for us going into the playoffs without a full roster."

Taylor and Dedmon scored nine straight points for the Hawks after they trailed 103-101 with 2 minutes remaining.

Prince added eight rebounds and five assists, and Damian Lee scored 14 with eight boards. Taylor had 13 points and Dedmon scored 10 for Atlanta, which has beaten playoff teams in consecutive games but still has the worst record in the Eastern Conference.

"(It's) especially gratifying, knowing you have a couple impact players out and still be able to do what we do," Prince said, alluding to the injuries to Dennis Schroder and Kent Bazemore, two of the team's top three scorers. "It's good to see what we're able to do, even without a full team."