Australian guard Dyson Daniels continued his breakout season with a career-high 28 points in Atlanta’s blowout loss to reigning champion Boston in their NBA Cup opener.

The Hawks, without injured star Trae Young, trailed by eight points early in the final quarter but rallied to post a 117-116 win over the Celtics at TD Garden.

Daniels missed a floater in the final seconds, but it was tipped in by teammate Onyeka Okongwu to give the Hawks their first lead since the first quarter.

The teams traded turnovers on in-bounds passes before Boston’s game-high scorer Jaylen Brown (37 points) drove up from 4 yards and fired off the rim with his game-winner attempt.

Daniels, the league leader in steals, top-scored for Atlanta and added seven assists, six steals and three rebounds in an outstanding performance.

“We knew it would be tough playing the defending champions, but we fought,” Daniels said after the game.

“We fought until the end. They got us in the first half and we went down 15 or so, but we kept our heads up, kept fighting and gave the credit to the team.

“When they came in here, people were probably counting us out, but we weren’t left out.

“We came in here, we did our job, we did what we had to do.”

The 21-year-old Bendigo product’s previous career high was 18, against Charlotte earlier this season.

Jalen Johnson (18 points, 13 rebounds, 10 assists) also shined for Atlanta, while Larry Nance Jnr (19 points) and Clint Capela (18) were also effective.

Brown received strong support from Derrick White (31) and Jayson Tatum (20) for Boston, which opened the season tournament on a green floor with a parquet design.

In Detroit, Malik Beasley made a game-tying free throw with 1.1 seconds left in overtime as the Pistons defeated Miami 123-121.

The Heat were assessed a technical foul for calling a timeout when they had none left, allowing Beasley to give Detroit the lead.

He added another free throw with 0.1 seconds left to complete the victory.

Beasley and Cade Cunningham each scored 21 points for the Pistons, while Tyler Herro had 40 points for Miami, including 20 in the final quarter.

Franz Wagner top scored for the Orlando Magic in their 114-89 win over Charlotte.

The Hornets were well served by former NBL Next Star LaMelo Ball, who scored 35 points.

In other results, the New York Knicks defeated the Philadelphia 76ers 111-99, Milwaukee had a 99-85 victory over Toronto, the visiting Phoenix Suns defeated Utah 120-112, Golden State defeated Dallas 120-117 and in Portland the Trail Blazers. were too strong for the Timberwolves and won 122-108.