ATLANTA — The Celtics traded their fourth-quarter closer for another one. Isaiah Thomas was tabbed “King of the Fourth’’ for his ability to flourish offensively down the stretch.
Kyrie Irving hasn’t garnered any new nicknames, yet he’s doing the same thing to seal wins for the Celtics, sparkling late in the fourth quarter.
During the Celtics’ 15-game winning streak, Irving has closed out opponents on several occasions, including Thursday night’s 92-88 victory against the Golden State Warriors when he scored 11 of the last 15 points in the final 4:21, and made all seven of his free throw attempts in that stretch.
In Saturday night’s 110-99 victory over the Hawks, Irving scored 12 of his game-high 30 points in the fourth quarter, converting on all three of his field goal attempts (including a pair of 3-pointers), and all four of his foul shots.
The relationship between Irving and coach Brad Stevens is building in late-game situations, but Irving said Saturday it’s pretty much a teacher-student relationship.
“There’s open dialogue but we prepare for [late in games],’’ Irving said. “He understands the talent that I have at that point, especially in the fourth quarter. But I also understand his brilliant mind, so when we’re preparing for walkthroughs or simulating situations then it’s kind of easy to go off one another.
“I’m able to see the reads and what’s going to happen and he makes the play calls. We’re just continuously building that trust for one another, so it’s pretty easy.’’
Irving has long lauded Stevens’s tactical decisions, and said the dialogue is essentially one-sided.
“Ain’t too much trading [ideas]; he’s the man, so for me I just try to soak up as much knowledge as possible,’’ Irving said. “Just being in the passenger’s seat, it’s like having a driving-school teacher. He’s driving you the whole time and he’s able to put you in the driving seat sometimes and you’re able to see the road. When you’re able to bounce ideas and have that type of connection, and it’s still developing, it’s pretty awesome.
“He does most of the teaching; I’m just there listening, just constantly taking as much knowledge as I can.’’
Stevens laughed at the driving teacher reference.
“We’re just trying to keep it as simple as possible,’’ Stevens said. “Obviously we had a whole kind of group of things we were going to go to the first week of the weeks of the season with him and Gordon [Hayward] and Al [Horford] in particular spots. We had to make small tweaks to that, obviously but just trying to keep it as simple and spaced as possible.
“He’s so good in those moments that you want to give him the appropriate amount of room. Maybe it’s finding a matchup. Maybe it’s creating a two-man game with Al. It really depends on what he feels and we’ve seen their defense has a tendency to do.’’
Consoling BrownJaylen Brown, whose best friend, Trevin Steede, died on Wednesday, flew to his native Atlanta ahead of his teammates to console with his friend’s family members. He participated in shootaround but did not speak with media.
Brown was in tears following Thursday’s win over the Warriors and paid tribute to his friend in an Instagram post.
“He said it was good to spend time with family and friends,’’ Stevens said. “We talked a little bit before [Thursday’s] game and we said last year, too, [with the death of Thomas’s sister] there is no right answer. There is no right emotion. There is no correct way to go about [mourning].’’
“I just think to be able to be on the court, spend time with your teammates, get a chance to compete; maybe it was a good distraction for him. Certainly it was inspiring to a lot of people.’’
Smart effortMarcus Smart has never been shy offensively, even though his shooting percentage has been below 40 percent throughout his career. On Thursday, however, after missing his first seven shots, Smart hesitated to shoot a few times in the fourth quarter, even passing up an open layup.
Despite his offensive struggles, Smart was a plus-15 during his 31 minutes, and Stevens said he continues to encourage his combo guard.
“The biggest thing, my conversations with Marcus is, nobody knows what we want to try to do more on either end of the floor than you do, and just help lead that charge,’’ Stevens said. “Marcus is an incredible competitor, as we all know. He’s a guy that figures out ways to win, sometimes that you can look at conventionally and other times not.
“But there’s a reason he’s in the game when the game’s on the line. There’s also a reason why in the last two games we’ve played at home, the last ball ended up in his hands. He has a knack for making those plays.’’
No masking pain
Irving, who shelved his protective mask in the second half Thursday, returned to the mask for Saturday’s game against the Hawks. Irving suffered a facial fracture when he took an elbow to the face from teammate Aron Baynes on Nov. 10, and missed one game. Stevens said doctors suggested Irving stick with the mask indefinitely and he obliged.
Gary Washburn can be reached at gary.washburn@globe.com.
