Hawks shock Celtics

The Boston Celtics were supposed to be resting up by now, getting ready for the next round of the playoffs.

Instead, they're headed back to Beantown all tied up with the lowly Atlanta Hawks, who are starting to believe -- really believe -- they can shock the world.

Joe Johnson scored 35 points, 20 in the fourth quarter, and Josh Smith added 28 points and 7 blocks for Atlanta, which surprised the Celtics again 97-92 on Monday night to even the best-of-seven series at two games apiece.

"We took care of our home court," Johnson said. "Now we've got to go up to Boston and somehow steal one."

Game 5 is Wednesday night in Boston.

No one could have seen that coming.

The Hawks had the worst record (37-45) of any playoff team, and they certainly played like it in the first two games at Boston, losing them by an average of 21 points. The Celtics, who won an NBA-leading 66 games during the regular season, came South looking to wrap it up.

Now, it's a best-of-three.

"We've got to find ourselves real quick," Boston's Sam Cassell said. "We've got to find our team identity, our team chemistry, we've got to find all that real quick."

The credit for this Atlanta stunner goes largely to Johnson, who took control in the final quarter. After Smith's jumper put the Hawks ahead to stay 81-79, Johnson scored 9 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.

"Basketball is a strange thing," Cassell said. "Strange things happen."

Ray Allen led Boston with 21 points, and Garnett added 20. But, after playing with so much confidence during the regular season, the Celtics must fight off the inevitable worries about a monumental playoff flop.

"Give the Hawks credit," Boston coach Doc Rivers said. "This series hasn't started yet, because no one has won a road game. It's a tough loss for us, but we get a chance to take it back to Boston and see what we can do."

Magic 102, Raptors 92: Dwight Howard had 21 points and 21 rebounds and the Orlando Magic advanced to second round of the playoffs for the first time in 12 years, beating the visiting Toronto Raptors 102-92 to close out their series in five games.

It was Howard's third game with at least 20 points and 20 rebounds in the series.

Raptors forward Chris Bosh, who posted career playoff highs of 39 points and 15 rebounds at Toronto on Saturday, had 16 points and 9 rebounds. Bosh was frustrated down low by Howard, shooting 7-of-19 and picking up a third-quarter technical foul after the Magic star powered past him for a layup.

The Magic will play the winner of the Detroit-Philadelphia series, which is tied 2-2, in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals.

T.J. Ford and Carlos Delfino both scored 14 points for the Raptors, while Jason Kapono had 13 and Jose Calderon 12. Delfino added 7 rebounds and Ford had 5 assists.