ATLANTA – The Atlanta Hawks just saw the Boston Celtics two games ago, and they came up short after a few calls didn't go their way late in the game. This time, they didn't let the referees get in the way, and they controlled the entire second half to lead them to a 112-102 victory, which made it their 13th straight home win.

The Celtics are one of the better teams in the league, and they've shown this season that they're going to compete at a high level regardless of who is on the floor. For the Hawks, it was another big win, and an important one with two weeks remaining in the season.

“As much as anything, we have great respect for their team,” Quin Snyder said after the game. “We’re forced to play at a high level, competitively as much as anything. If you don’t compete at a high level, it’s hard to beat them. We didn’t start out as focused as we needed to be defensively. In the first quarter, they got some easy stuff, and we got better as the game went on.”

The start of the second half was what helped the Hawks pull away after the game was tied going into halftime. Onyeka Okongwu, who had struggled shooting the ball coming in, went 3-for-4 in the third quarter.

“I never let a few missed threes kill my confidence,” Okongwu said. “My mentality is I’m not going to keep missing if I keep shooting, and if I keep missing, it won’t happen next game. For me, I gotta stay confident in what I’m doing, and my teammates want me to shoot it, my coaches want me to shoot it, fans want me to shoot it too.”

Okongwu wasn't the only one making threes, as Dyson Daniels went 2-for-3 in the game.

“It’s just about letting it fly. I put a lot of time into that part of my game,” Daniels said. “This year has been a big dip, so for me it’s just about trusting my work and going into every game with the mindset of if I’m open, I’m letting it fly.”

Outside of the offense stepping up in the second half, it was the defense that was consistent the entire night. The Hawks made it hard for Jaylen Brown whenever he had the ball, and they threw multiple defenders at him throughout the game. If it wasn't Daniels, it was Jonthan Kuminga. Then it was Gabe Vincent or Nickeil Alexander-Walker.

Together, they forced Brown to shoot 9-for-29 from the field, for 29 points.

“When JK was on the floor, he was able to go on [Jaylen] Brown for a bit,” Daniels said. “I went on [Payton] Pritchard for a bit, so we can mix and match the lineups. Nickeil has been very well on the ball. When CJ [McCollum] switches on the ball, he’s been very good for us too. We have Mo [Gueye], Gabe, Zaccharie [Risacher], these guys are coming off the bench and are really solid defenders…”

Kuminga had multiple plays throughout the game where he was matched up with Brown and got the better of him. On offense, he used that same physicality to put pressure on the rim.

“Jonathan will continuously get more comfortable when he’s aggressive at the right time,” Snyder said. “Because of the way that he plays, you want him to be aggressive, and he’s capable of doing that. There’s a line there that he’s finding.”

In all, it was a complete team win for the Hawks against a top team in the Eastern Conference. This is just the beginning of what the Hawks will face in the coming games as the season winds down, but they've shown that they're ready for the moment.