NBA Playoffs | Feisty Hawks tie up series against Celtics

ATLANTA — Forget about a Boston sweep. The Hawks are headed back to Beantown all tied up with the mighty Celtics.

Joe Johnson scored 35 points — 20 in the fourth quarter — and Atlanta surprised the Celtics again 97-92 on Monday night to even the best-of-seven series at two games apiece.

A Game 5 that many never expected to happen is now on, Wednesday night in Boston.

The Hawks, who had the worst record (37-45) of any playoff team, overcame two double-digit deficits to beat a team that won an NBA-leading 66 games during the regular season.

The credit for this Atlanta stunner goes largely to Johnson, who took control in the final quarter. After Josh Smith's jumper put the Hawks ahead to stay 81-79, Johnson scored nine straight points to keep the Celtics on the ropes.

The knockout came when Paul Pierce drove to the hoop and left it short, then tumbled over a cameraman alongside the basket. When the Boston star finally climbed back to his feet, he had a look of disbelief — which pretty much sums up the way the Celtics are feeling about this series.

Smith went to the other end and made two free throws with 26 seconds remaining for 93-87 lead. Johnson — appropriately enough — finished off the Celtics by making two more foul shots with 14 seconds left.

Smith set an Atlanta playoff record with seven blocks, the last of them a swat on Kevin Garnett after he backed down in the lane, looking for the easy shot, with over 3 minutes left.

"It's time to shock the world," the public address announcer screamed to the sellout crowd of 20,016.

After getting blown out in the first two games, Atlanta turned feisty on its home court. Rookie Al Horford taunted Pierce after putting the Celtics away in Game 3.

Then, with 7 ½ minutes left in the second quarter, things really got testy. Garnett threw an elbow at Zaza Pachulia while going for a loose ball. The rugged Pachulia got right in the Boston star's face.

The officials stepped in quickly and Hawks coach Mike Woodson charged onto the court to pull his players away. No punches were thrown and no one was ejected, though the officials did call offsetting technical fouls — two on each team — after looking at a replay.

Boston started like it was going to be a blowout. The Hawks missed four shots and turned it over three times before finally hitting their first field goal of the game, Smith's 20-foot jumper with just under 7 minutes left in the first.