Rondo, Pierce rally Celtics past Hawks

ATLANTA, Georgia (AFP) –

Paul Pierce of the Boston Celtics gestures after being fouled against the Dallas Mavericks on December 12, 2012. Rajon Rondo notched a triple-double and Pierce scored 26 points as the Celtics erased a 15-point half-time deficit to post an 89-81 NBA victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday.

Rajon Rondo notched a triple-double and Paul Pierce scored 26 points as the Boston Celtics erased a 15-point half-time deficit to post an 89-81 NBA victory over the Atlanta Hawks.

Pierce scored 17 points in the third quarter, when the Celtics out-scored the Hawks 33-9.

“We wanted to bring the fight to the Hawks in the second half,” Pierce said. “We were kind of bickering with each other at halftime about what to do defensively and I just reminded our guys that the fight isn’t against us, it’s against the other team.

“Once we remembered that, we stepped up and played the kind of basketball that we’re capable of playing.”

Rondo contributed his second triple-double of the season — 14 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists — for Boston, who won their second straight.

Atlanta’s Lou Williams scored a game-high 28 points, but had just seven points in the second half as the Hawks were unable to respond to the increased pressure from Boston.

“We put together a good first half, as I told our guys at halftime, this Celtics team has no quit in them,” Hawks coach Larry Drew said. “These are veteran guys that have been in this situation before of being down double- digits.”

The Hawks connected on just 7-of-28 from the floor and committed 13 turnovers in the second half.