‘Ice’ Trae Young nails last-gasp stunner as Atlanta Hawks beat Boston Celtics to trail 3-2

NEW YORK – The Atlanta Hawks were down by a point and on the verge of crashing out of the National Basketball Association (NBA) Eastern Conference play-offs, but their star player Trae Young had other ideas.

The point guard knew that he could still make a difference and, with everything that he had left in him, nailed a last-gasp three-pointer on Tuesday night as the Hawks stunned the Boston Celtics 119-117 on the road to keep their first-round series alive at 3-2 to the home side.

“I just had to trust in what I’ve done my whole life and shoot it with confidence,” Young said of his game-winning shot.

A nerve-jangling game in Boston was settled when he drained a 29-footer with 2.8 seconds remaining to silence the Celtics’ TD Garden crowd and set up Game 6 in Atlanta on Thursday.

Young, who finished with 38 points, 13 assists and four rebounds, added that the Hawks had been determined to extend the series following the suspension of key guard Dejounte Murray.

Murray was suspended for one game after a clash with a referee after Game 4 last Sunday.

“We were missing a big piece of ours and we want him to play Game 6, so we want to go back home and have him with us,” Young said of Murray.

“I didn’t feel there was any pressure on me.

“Obviously, we were without (Murray) but we all had to step our game up another level – not just me, we all did tonight. It was a total team win.”

Hawks coach Quin Snyder praised his team’s refusal to buckle in a game that the Celtics had controlled for long periods.

“We were tough-minded,” he said. “It’s tough to be down through the whole game.

“We were hanging in there and hanging in there. We just didn’t capitulate.”

The Celtics, leading the series 3-1, had looked to be cruising to victory after dominating for most of the second half to lead by 13 points midway through the fourth quarter.

But with Boston poised to wrap up a 4-1 series victory, Young and the Hawks took over with a startling late rally in the closing minutes that whittled away the Celtics lead.

Young nailed back-to-back three-pointers to level the scores at 111-111 with 2min 42sec remaining and then hit three free throws to help Atlanta take a 114-113 lead.

Robert Williams handed Boston a one-point advantage to make it 115-114 to the Celtics with 25.6sec left on the clock.

But a rash foul by Boston’s Marcus Smart presented Young with two more free throws to edge the Hawks into a 116-115 lead.

Young then had a nervous moment after conceding a foul on Derrick White, who shot two free throws to put the Celtics 117-116 ahead with 7.3sec left on the clock.

However, he responded superbly, calmly bringing the ball up court before launching a pull-up three-pointer to give Atlanta a 119-117 lead before Boston’s final desperate last attack fizzled out.

“I know what time it is. It’s Ice Trae time,” said Atlanta’s John Collins, who had 22 points.

“He’s clutch. He wants to be in that moment. He wants the big shot. It’s what he does.”

Boston’s scoring was led by Jaylen Brown with 35 points while Jayson Tatum added 19.

Four other Boston players finished in double figures.

Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla blamed poor execution for the defeat but vowed his team would make adjustments in time for Thursday, when they have another chance to wrap up the series.

“I don’t know if we were trying to do too much, I just think we didn’t execute well,” he said.

“We had an opportunity, now we have another one.

“And we just have to focus on that.” AFP