Dwight Howard trolls Celtics fans after ejection (VIDEO)

BOSTON — The Atlanta Hawks snapped a three-game losing streak with a 114-98 victory over the Boston Celtics Monday night.

Dennis Schroder led the way with 21 points. Paul Millsap and Dwight Howard added 17 points each.

The Hawks led by 13 entering the fourth quarter and increased the edge to 24 despite playing the final 16 minutes without Howard, who was ejected in the third quarter after receiving his second technical foul.

The NBA later said in a statement that Howard should not have been ejected for hanging on the rim.

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The league said the technical foul should have been ruled “non-unsportsmanlike” and should not have counted toward an automatic ejection.

“Despite me getting kicked out, I think guys really stepped up and played great. It was a good team win,” Howard said. “I apologized to the guys and told them I need to do a better job of keeping my composure and some other things. They understood.”

Howard, who heard boos from the Boston fans for most of the night, seemed to have fun with it.

When he was ejected, he took off his jersey and appeared ready to hand it to some Celtics fans anxiously waiting.

He didn’t.

He gave it to someone else.

And Twitter loved it.

“Boston’s a great place to play. I have had some battles here with Kevin Garnett and those guys,” Howard said. “Despite the boos, it’s a great place to play.”

Howard’s first tech came when he shoved formed Hawks big man Al Horford.

“We want to bring an edge to the game. I think we can be smarter and not pick up techs,” Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “When Dwight’s playing that that, we love to have him for 40 minutes. Hanging on the rim, I guess, it’s just the emotion of the moment.”

ESPN and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Cox Media Group