ATLANTA—The Bulls strengthened their hold on home-court advantage in the playoffs, and made it a little tougher for the Atlanta Hawks to extend their season.For that, the Bulls can thank D.J. Augustin.Keeping up his inspired play, Augustin scored 23 points as the Bulls held off slumping Atlanta for a 105-92 victory Wednesday night, bumping the Hawks out of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with two weeks left in the season.The Bulls stretched its lead to 2½ games over Brooklyn for home court in the opening round of the playoffs. The Bulls might have lost Derrick Rose to major knee injuries two years in a row, but they are 35-20 since signing Augustin in mid-December.

“He’s saved our season,” coach Tom Thibodeau said. “D.J. can beat you a lot of different ways.”

The performance came three days after Augustin scored a career-high 33 points against Boston.

“D-Rose is the face of this team,” Augustin said. “I’m just trying to come in, just trying to help us out, do whatever I can do to help us win and go forward in the playoffs.”

The Bulls took control with a 16-3 run in the second quarter and led the rest of the way, fending off the last of Atlanta’s runs when Jimmy Butler swished a 3-pointer with just over a minute remaining.

“We just want to finish the rest of the season strong,” Augustin said.

The Hawks are heading in the opposite direction, losing for the 21st time in 28 games. This one dropped them slightly behind New York for the eighth playoff seed.The Knicks (33-43) routed Brooklyn 110-81 to climb percentage points ahead of Atlanta (32-42). Cleveland is also in the mix, two games out after beating Orlando. The Hawks host the Cavaliers on Friday night.Paul Millsap led the Hawks with 22 points and 11 rebounds, while Jeff Teague added 21 points. But Kyle Korver, with 12 points, was the only other Atlanta player in double figures.Everyone else went 13 for 32 from the field.The Hawks were up 42-38 with 9 minutes left in the second quarter after Mike Muscala knocked down a couple of free throws.The Bulls took control from there, clamping down defensively and scoring 16 of the next 19 points. The Hawks missed 12 of 13 shots, forced to settle mostly for outside jumpers and botching a couple of easy ones when they did get inside. Augustin capped the spurt with a brilliant hesitation move, freezing the Atlanta defenders before bursting through a gap for an easy layup.The Bulls led 57-49 at the half and never surrendered the advantage.Atlanta made several runs, only to have the Visitors answer every one of them. With the Hawks down 93-87 and in possession, Taj Gibson swatted away Carroll’s driving shot, the Bulls grabbed a loose ball and took off the other way, with Augustin sinking a 3-pointer that led to an Atlanta timeout.It was another trey by Butler that finished off the Hawks — appropriate enough, since the Bulls went 12 of 25 beyond the arc. Augustin was 4 of 8 from long range, while Butler chipped in with three more.In contrast to the Hawks, six players were in double figures for the Bulls, including Butler and Kirk Hinrich with 17 points apiece.Atlanta has eight games left to pull out its seventh consecutive playoff appearance.

“This team is competitive,” Elton Brand said. “There’s no quit in us. We’re going to play it out until the end.”

NOTES—Joakim Noah had 10 points and 10 rebounds. … The Bulls swept the season series 4-0 and now have won six straight against the Hawks since last season. … Thibodeau shrugged off the 200th career victory. “I’ve got a good team,” he said after improving his record to 200-105 in four seasons.

Having been burned by D.J. Augustin the previous night, the Boston Celtics clamped down on the Bulls’ guard in the second game of their home-and-home series.Boston succeeded in limiting Augustin to four points on 1-of-9 shooting, but that didn’t affect the final outcome.Mike Dunleavy had 22 points on 7-for-12 shooting and Augustin handed out 11 assists to help five Bulls score in double figures for a 94-80 win over the Celtics on Monday night.

”From the beginning of the game I knew they were going to do that, adjust to me,” Augustin said. ”I had to do some other things and find my teammates and they did a great job getting open.”

Joakim Noah added 19 points, 11 rebounds and five assists, Jimmy Butler scored 18 points, Carlos Boozer 16 and Taj Gibson had 14 points and 11 rebounds for the Bulls, who pulled away with a 13-0 run at the start of the fourth quarter.The Bulls (42-32) moved into a tie with the Toronto Raptors — who lost at Miami — for third place in the Eastern Conference.

”I think it’s very important,” Dunleavy said of the third seed. ”We want to get as high as we can. Not only with home-court advantage and avoiding the first seed in the second round, if we’re fortunate enough to advance. We just want to get as high as we can.”

The Bulls swept the home-and-home series with the Celtics after winning 107-102 in Boston on Sunday.The Celtics have lost 10 straight on the road to drop to 8-28 away from home. Their last road win was Feb. 10 at Milwaukee.Brandon Bass and Jerryd Bayless scored 18 points apiece for the Celtics.Rajon Rondo didn’t play Monday after getting 17 points and 11 assists Sunday. He is still working his way back to full strength following reconstructive knee surgery and doesn’t play in back-to-back games.

”It wasn’t just the fourth [quarter],” Boston coach Brad Stevens said. ”The first five minutes of the third and the fourth we went into a drought. We looked heavy-legged the whole second half.’That’s no excuse because they played last night, too.”

The game was tight entering the fourth, but the Bulls went on a quick 9-0 run for an 80-70 lead with 9½ minutes to play before Stevens called time out. The stoppage didn’t curb the Bulls’ momentum.Gibson scored on vicious dunk off a nice feed from Butler to make it 82-70 and Noah capped the run of 13 straight with a post move for an 84-70 lead. Noah had six points during the spurt, including an 18-foot jumper before Boston’s timeout.

”They’re a good team,” Bayless said. ”We don’t have a lot of room for error. We made a couple of bad plays in a row and they’re too good and they got on the break and hit their shots. We have to pull it together for longer stretches of time.”

Although Augustin didn’t score in the fourth, he played a big role by dishing out six assists as Boston overplayed him.

”That’s the advantage we have with the finishing group,” Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said. ”The job of those guys is to read what the defense is doing.”

The Bulls are 10 games over .500 for the first time this season.

”I think we’re playing pretty good basketball, but I think we can play better,” Noah said. ”I think the mindset is good. Everybody is working, everybody is in the weight room, everybody is trying to find ways to get better.”

NOTES—Home-and-home series on consecutive games used to be a regular occurrence in the NBA, but are rare these days. ”It’s the same plays, so there’s a tendency for the players to know what’s coming,” Thibodeau said. ”I think it’s good preparation for what’s coming down the road.” … Since he wasn’t playing because of the back-to-back, Rondo spent part of the game working on the TV broadcast back to Boston. … Celtics G Avery Bradley left the game in the first half because of a sore Achilles.. Noah had 13 assists in Sunday’s game, the most ever by a visiting center in Boston. The previous high was 11 by Wilt Chamberlain in 1968.