Trae Young, Hawks hack out first playoff win over Celtics

Trae Young had game-highs of 32 points and 9 assists to lead the host Atlanta Hawks to a 130-122 victory over the Boston Celtics in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series Friday night, April 21 (Saturday, April 22, Manila time).

Young, who added 6 rebounds and 2 blocked shots, was 12-of-22 from the field and scored 9 consecutive points as the Hawks finished up the win.

Dejounte Murray added 25 points for Atlanta, which lost the first two games of the series in Boston. Game 4 will be played Sunday night in Atlanta.

Boston trailed 124-121 and had the ball, but Jayson Tatum missed a three-point attempt and Young made a jumper on the ensuing possession to put the Hawks up 126-121 with 45.5 seconds to play. The Celtics didn’t threaten after that.

Moments earlier, Young’s triple with 2:22 to play put the Hawks ahead 121-116 after Tatum’s three-point pulled Boston within 118-116 with 3:02 to play.

Clint Capela had 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Hawks, who outrebounded the Celtics 48-29.

Tatum led the Celtics with 29 points and 10 rebounds and added 5 assists. Marcus Smart finished with 24 points, 8 assists, and 3 steals, and Malcolm Brogdon scored 17 points.

The Celtics led 37-33 after one quarter, but the Hawks scored 41 points in the second quarter and were ahead 74-67 at halftime. 

Boston had a 53-50 lead with 6:32 remaining in the second quarter, but the Hawks used a 20-3 run to go ahead 70-56 with 3:15 left in the first half.

Atlanta was 30-of-46 (65.2%) from the field in the first half, including 8-of-16 on three-point attempts. Atlanta also had a 34-10 edge in points in the paint in the half.

Boston tied the game at 79-79 on a three-pointer by Jaylen Brown with 8:13 to play in the third quarter, but the Hawks responded with an 8-0 run. Atlanta had a 100-93 lead at the end of three quarters.

Brown had 15 points and 3 steals for the Celtics. – Rappler.com