It will be interesting to see how much energy the Boston Celtics have against the Atlanta Hawks in Game 4 on Sunday night. Less than 48 hours before the start of their next game, the Celtics needed overtime and heavy minutes from their starters in order to defeat the Hawks 90-84 in Game 3.

“Too many minutes,” Doc Rivers said. “Sometimes, honestly, as a coach you take a gamble – you think maybe we can get this, put this away, and get guys out. And it backfired. We didn’t put them away and I was really worried going into the overtime, just looking at Paul [Pierce], Kevin [Garnett] and [Rajon] Rondo. They didn’t look that fresh.”

Rivers was referring to a stretch before the midpoint of the fourth quarter where the Celtics went on a run that gave them a 76-65 lead with 6:53 left in regulation. Leading by 11, Rivers opted to leave Garnett in the game, rather than give him some rest at the customary six-minute mark.

Almost three minutes later, Boston’s lead was down to eight but they still seemed in control of the game. Jeff Teague walked the ball up the floor with four minutes left and committed an unsightly dribbling turnover that handed the ball back to the Celtics.

Instead of scoring to push the lead back to double-digits, they allowed the Hawks to go on a run of their own, culminating in a three-pointer by Joe Johnson that tied the score at 80. Both teams had multiple opportunities to win in regulation, but each misfired.

“I give them a lot of credit,” Rivers said of the Hawks. “I mean, they’re undermanned, we anticipated all the different lineups. We knew they were going to go small, but it was still quirky and it bothered us a little bit.” 

After Rondo made a layup with 4:01 left in the quarter, the Celtics failed to score again in regulation. They went 0-for-8 over that stretch. Overtime, however, was a much different story. Boston held Atlanta to just four points and never trailed following a bucket by Rondo less than 20 seconds in.

“Overtime was great. I thought we executed better,” Rivers said of his team, which went 4-for-8 in the last five minutes of the game.

The Hawks, meanwhile, were left grim after nearly stealing a game in which they played without Josh Smith (knee), in addition to Al Horford and Zaza Pachulia.

“We definitely felt like we could of won,” Johnson said. “We just didn’t come up with some of those big plays in overtime. I think we had a few possessions were we couldn’t score.” 

The game was unsightly in many ways with Marvin Williams, starting in place of Smith, scoring just three points in 20 minutes (he did grab 11 rebounds) and finishing the game with a plus/minus of -10. Larry Drew was forced to ask Erick Dampier to play 22 minutes after he played approximately 50 minutes all season.

“You can look at what our situation is from an injury standpoint. The last thing I’ll do as a coach is use it as an excuse,” Drew said. “I thought we were depleted but yet we were still in a position where we could have won the game. If I’m going to take anything positive from this certainly I’m very proud of our guys.”

In addition to poor offensive play – the Celtics shot 40.5% and the Hawks just 37.8% on the night, while the teams combined for 30 turnovers – Game 3 was also a story of throwback performances.

Tracy McGrady logged 41 minutes, posting 12 points and nine rebounds. It was easily his best all-around effort of the season. He appeared to suffer a game-ending ankle injury in the second quarter, in the midst of an impressive stretch of play, but he swallowed the pain to help the Hawks after the half.

“It’s sore,” McGrady said of the ankle. “I went up for a three. Rondo was closing out on me, he just happened to come right up under me and I landed on his foot. It was a little extended, but I’m going to get some treatment and I will be ready to go for Sunday.”

McGrady punctuated his Mitchell & Ness performance with a two-handed dunk in traffic early in the second quarter. It’s sad to think about what he might have been capable of had he not rolled his ankle.

“We’re right there,” he said. “It’s not time to panic.”

Another aging veteran, although one not considered quite as washed up as McGrady, Garnett helped will the Celtics to victory while playing above the rim at times.

Garnett had 20 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks. He was a game-high +11 and didn’t wear down despite 42 minutes. He put an exclamation point on Boston’s win with 28 seconds left on a two-handed dunk of his own off a Rondo miss, giving the Celtics an 88-84 lead.

“He was terrific,” Rivers said of Garnett. “They kept changing lineups, going five guards and Kevin had to do all the talking, he was basically the linebacker out on the floor. All by himself. And that’s hard. That’s a hard job to do.”

It took a lot out of the Celtics to defeat the Hawks in Game 3, which could ultimately have a significant effect on their level of play as the series progresses. With that said, the result on Friday night was consistent with the theme of this season: they’ll take a win anyway they can get it.