INQUIRER Sports

BOSTON – The Atlanta Hawks swooped for confidence-boosting 97-86 NBA victory over the Boston Celtics on Friday.

"We needed to beat a good team on the road for our confidence level," Atlanta coach Mike Woodson said. "I think that's the best team in the East. Tonight we matched them from beginning to end.

"From a defensive standpoint, we finally stepped up and played 48 minutes defensively," Woodson said.

Joe Johnson scored 24 points and Jamal Crawford added 18 for the Hawks, who extended the Celtics to seven games in the first round of the 2008 playoffs but lost that series as they failed to win a game in Boston.

The Celtics went on to win the championship that year.

Since then, Atlanta has built on their nucleus of Johnson, Josh Smith, Al Horford and Mike Bibby, adding experienced reserves Crawford and Joe Smith.

"Since Day One, we've believed," Johnson said. "Nobody has believed in us. We've been playing pretty good on the road this year."

Josh Smith scored 14 and Horford had 12 points and 13 rebounds as the Hawks improved to 7-2.

Last week, Phoenix handed the Celtics their first defeat of the season after a 7-0 start.

"It feels great," Josh Smith said. "It always feels good home or away to beat a quality team like the Boston Celtics."

Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 24 points, but bruised his left knee in the third quarter.

"We tried to turn it up and put a little pressure on them, but I give all the credit to them," said Boston's Kevin Garnett, who contributed 14 points.