ATLANTA — When the Atlanta Hawks were staggered by another impressive Boston comeback, they put the ball in Jeff Teague’s hands Saturday night.

Good move.

Teague scored 23 points and doled out 12 assists, making sure Atlanta kept the home-court edge with a 102-101 victory in Game 1 after the gritty Celtics rallied from a 19-point deficit.

“Jeff was in attack mode,” Hawks Coach Mike Budenholzer said.

With the score 88-88, Teague worked a pick-and-roll to set up a layup for Al Horford. The Celtics missed and the Hawks again got the ball to Teague, who found Paul Millsap alone under the basket for a dunk that pushed Atlanta to a 92-88 lead with 2:56 remaining.

“In the fourth quarter, you’re going to get a high dose of me and Al in the pick-and-roll, and me and Paul in the pick-and-roll,” Teague said. “Those are times when I have to be aggressive and try to make plays.”

Boston took what could be a major blow when Avery Bradley, its best perimeter defender, went down in the fourth quarter with an apparent right hamstring injury.

“He’s very, very sore,” said Celtics Coach Brad Stevens, who wasn’t sure how long Bradley might be sidelined. “He said that on the court he heard a pop.”

The injury really opened things up for Teague. The Celtics simply didn’t have anyone who could stay with the slick point guard, and they could face a daunting challenge if Bradley remains out for an extended period.

Game 2 in the best-of-seven series is Tuesday night in Atlanta.

In the closing seconds, Jae Crowder gave the Celtics a chance by knocking down a 3-pointer. But Teague, appropriately enough, sealed the win with a couple free throws that kissed off the front of the rim and dropped through.

Horford scored 24 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for the Hawks, and Kent Bazemore came up big with 23 points.

Isaiah Thomas, after a sluggish start, led the Celtics with 27 points, including a long 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds left that at least created a bit of suspense. The Hawks called a timeout and managed to get away an inbounds pass that finally ended the game.

The Celtics rallied from a 24-point halftime deficit in the regular-season finale against Miami, coming back for a 98-88 victory that wasn’t enough to pull out home-court advantage in the first round.

They almost claimed it anyway on their first night in Atlanta, shaking off another dismal showing in the first half: 12 of 52 shooting (23 percent) and a mere 2 of 16 beyond the arc.

“We can’t put ourselves in that big of a hole,” Thomas said. “It just takes so much energy and so much time to get back.”