BOSTON -- Despite winning the first two meetings of the season against the Boston Celtics, Atlanta Hawks coach Mike Woodson refused to elevate the status of his team to NBA elite before Monday's game.

After Monday's 102-96 victory at the TD Garden, he doesn't have to. Having now rallied from halftime deficits three times against the Celtics this season, including twice on Boston's home turf, the Hawks have established themselves as legitimate postseason contenders simply with their play against a foe regarded by some as the class of the Eastern Conference.

Sure, the Celtics were playing without Kevin Garnett when the Hawks defeated them twice in the past four days. Yes, Atlanta has just as recently wilted against top competition (see Saturday's 32-point drubbing in Orlando).

But as Boston discovered two seasons ago during its own title run, no one wants to see the Hawks in the postseason. And isn't that the true sign of an elite squad?

Boston fans are still recovering from last year's heart-stopping, first-round series against the Chicago Bulls. It's hard to imagine anything could live up to that, but the Celtics and Hawks have put on such a show the first three games this season, it's hard not to root for a postseason encore.

But that's looking too far ahead for Woodson's taste.

"We're still learning how to win," he said before Monday's game. "I think when you win 50-plus games ... then you're considered elite. We're still trying to learn how to get there.

The Hawks have 24 wins a month before the All-Star break. They're on pace for 53 wins, which would meet that elite barometer.

Atlanta shimmied to within a game of the Magic in the Southeast Division with Monday's triumph, and Woodson told his troops to proceed with a goal of securing the division crown. At absolute worst, he wants his charges to finish in the top four in the Eastern Conference and assure themselves some early home-court advantage in the postseason.

But as Atlanta showed Monday night, it has the ability to win on an elite team's court.

"In order to get to where we're trying to go in this league, we have to go through Orlando, Boston and Cleveland," said Joe Johnson, who poured in 36 points against the team that drafted him. "We've been pretty successful against Boston this year, but we just got to try to get some wins down the stretch."

For their part, the Celtics suggest their confidence is stirred, not shaken, by their struggles this season against the Hawks. While the Celtics have plenty of crutches, quite literally, given the injuries and illness they've endured lately -- Rasheed Wallace was a game-time scratch Monday with a foot injury, and he was filling in for Kevin Garnett, who is expected to miss 10 more days with a hyperextended right knee -- coach Doc Rivers stressed that he likes his team's chances against any team in the league.

And he will not let the Celtics lean on excuses.

"We can't feel like a victim," said Rivers. "The one thing I told our team [after Monday's loss] was that losing close games is simply unacceptable."

After all, elite teams don't lose close games.

Dimes past: Dec. 21 | 22 | 23 | 25-26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | Jan. 1-2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 8-9 | 10

ESPN.com writers and TrueHoop Network bloggers chatted with fans and gave their in-game opinions throughout Monday night's slate of games -- all in Daily Dime Live.