NBA playoffs result: Trae Young’s clutch trey extends Hawks’ series with Celtics

Young scored the final 14 points for Atlanta, which was playing without the league-suspended Dejounte Murray after he made contact with an official at the end of the previous game.

Published : Apr 26, 2023 08:26 IST , Atlanta - 2 MINS READ

Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young drives to the basket against Boston Celtics centre Al Horford during the fourth quarter of Game 5 in the first round of the NBA playoffs on April 25, 2023. 

Trae Young’s 3-pointer with 1.8 seconds left capped a 38-point performance as the Atlanta Hawks stayed alive by rallying to beat the host Boston Celtics 119-117 on Tuesday in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series.

Young scored the final 14 points for Atlanta, which was playing without the league-suspended Dejounte Murray after he made contact with an official at the end of the previous game.

Boston now has a 3-2 lead in the series. Game 6 will be played Thursday in Atlanta.

Young added 13 assists and a pair of steals. John Collins contributed 22 points and Bogdan Bogdanovic had 18 to support Young.

Boston’s Jaylen Brown (35 points) posted his second straight 30-plus-point game.

Jayson Tatum had 19 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, and Derrick White added 18 points for the Celtics.

A 30-17 run over the last nine minutes of the first half and a rapid 7-0 run early in the fourth quarter seemingly put the Celtics in control, up 102-89 with nine minutes left. However, Boston was unable to close out the game, even after a Brown trey made it 109-96 with 6:10 left.

The game featured 12 lead changes, including five in the final quarter alone, and 11 ties.

Young hit back-to-back 3-pointers to cap a 12-0 Hawks run, tying the game at 111-111 with 2:42 left.

A Robert Williams III putback following an Al Horford 3-point miss swung the score back the Celtics’ way, but Young followed hitting a technical foul free throw and two regular free throws to give the Hawks their first lead since 41-40.

Williams slammed in a dunk after a jump ball to put the Celtics back up with 115-114 with 25.1 seconds left.

Young and White traded pairs of free throws to make the score 117-116 Boston with 7.3 seconds left before Young’s game-winning shot.

Tatum missed an attempted winning 3-pointer at the buzzer.

The Hawks led 30-27 after shooting 6-for-11 from 3-point range in the first.

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Treys from Bogdanovic and Saddiq Bey helped Atlanta take a 39-34 lead early in the second.

Back-to-back Brown baskets tied the game at 41, and a 7-0 run fueled by Malcolm Brogdon and White made it 54-46 Boston with 4:57 left until halftime.

Young hit three of Atlanta’s last four field goals in the first half to keep the Hawks within 66-58 entering the break.