Trae Young lifts Atlanta Hawks over Boston Celtics
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Trae Young scored 32 points as the hot-shooting Hawks beat the Boston Celtics 130-122 at home.
PHOTO: AFP
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ATLANTA – Trae Young was thinking about how to make the Atlanta Hawks better all night on Friday, as he knew that his teammates depend largely on him.
The point guard scored 32 points and Dejounte Murray added 25 as the hot-shooting Hawks beat the Boston Celtics 130-122 at home for their first win in their National Basketball Association (NBA) Eastern Conference first-round play-off series.
The Celtics’ two convincing victories before Friday had the Hawks on the ropes and they returned for two games in Atlanta knowing no NBA team have come back from 3-0 down to win a best-of-seven play-off series.
Young knew that as well and he shook off two sub-par performances with a stellar display.
“I just needed to make the right plays,” he said.
“Our whole team were making plays all night and it was up to me to go make the right one. It’s not only to score, sometimes it’s also to get everybody involved.
“So I’m just trying to make the right play and tonight I did.”
Young connected on 12 of 22 shots from the field, pulled down six rebounds and handed out nine assists.
He also produced a pair of blocks as the Hawks out-hustled the second-seeded Celtics – runners-up to champions the Golden State Warriors in 2022.
Jayson Tatum scored 29 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for Boston, as Marcus Smart added 24 and Jalen Brown had 15 for the Celtics, who drained 21 three-pointers but were out-rebounded 48-29.
The Hawks had 23 second-chance points to Boston’s nine and out-scored them 54-40 in the paint.
They shot 67.4 per cent from the field in the first half and shot 56 per cent for the game overall, Boston (48.9 per cent) managing to turn up the defensive volume only for short stretches in the second half.
Atlanta will try to level the series when they host Game 4 on Sunday.
Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference, Jalen Brunson produced 21 points and six assists to help the New York Knicks register a convincing 99-79 home victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 3 of their series.
R.J. Barrett added 19 points and eight rebounds and Josh Hart had 13 points and six rebounds as New York took a 2-1 lead.
Julius Randle contributed 11 points and eight rebounds despite three-of-15 shooting, and Immanuel Quickley also scored 11 points.
The Knicks were boosted by a sold-out crowd of 19,812.
“It was what I expected for sure,” Randle said of the atmosphere.
“A lot of, lot of energy and we were able to feed off it, so I love it.”
Donovan Mitchell recorded 22 points, seven rebounds and five assists and Caris LeVert added 17 points for the Cavaliers, who shot just 38.8 per cent from the field.
Game 4 is on Sunday in New York. AFP, REUTERS
