Hawks Beat Celtics for 1st time this Season, Young scores 32

ATLANTA — Trae Young scored 32 points in his best game of the playoffs and the Atlanta Hawks gave themselves a glimmer of hope

In Game 3 of the opening-round series between the Atlanta Hawks and the Boston Celtics, Trae Young had his best performance of the playoffs, scoring 32 points to lead the Hawks to a 130-122 victory. Young hit a crucial step-back 3-pointer and a floater in the lane to seal the win for Atlanta. The Hawks, who are the seventh seed in the playoffs, were able to close the gap to 2-1 in the series with the win. They will now look to even the series in Game 4 at State Farm Arena on Sunday night.

 

While Young was criticized for his poor shooting in the first two games of the series, he was much better in Game 3, connecting on 12 of his 22 attempts and also distributing nine assists. Dejounte Murray also had a big game for the Hawks, scoring 25 points, including a key 3-pointer in the final minutes of the game.

 

On the other hand, Jayson Tatum led the Celtics with 29 points, but Boston was not able to hold on to the two-game lead they had earlier in the series. In the first two games of the series, the Celtics had built big leads and cruised to a pair of 13-point victories, but the Hawks finally put up a fight in Game 3.

 

 

Due to two quick fouls, Derrick White was benched early in the game. The Atlanta Hawks capitalized on this weakness in the Boston defense, shooting an impressive 65.2% with 30 out of their 46 shots in the first half. With an enthusiastic standing-room-only crowd, the Hawks surged to a 14-point lead - their largest of the series - in the latter part of the first half. Nonetheless, the Celtics rallied back, scoring eight straight points, and ended up trailing 74-67 at halftime. This win for Atlanta was their first against Boston this season. 

The Hawks lost all of their regular-season matches against their opponents. In a game between the Knicks and Cavaliers, Jalen Brunson scored 21 points and RJ Barrett broke out of a slump with 19 points, leading the Knicks to a dominating win at Madison Square Garden, giving them a 2-1 first-round series lead. 

The Knicks quickly recovered from their Game 2 defeat and became the first team to hold an opponent to below 80 points in both the regular and postseason. Additionally, Josh Hart contributed 13 points to help the fifth-seeded Knicks achieve their first-second round appearance since defeating the Boston Celtics in 2013. Donovan Mitchell's 22 points were not enough to help the Cavaliers and they lost with a score of 99-79. The Cleveland team's previous low score this season was against the Knicks on Dec. 4, with 81 points.

In another game between the Nuggets and Timberwolves, Nikola Jokic scored 20 points, 10 rebounds, and 12 assists, securing his seventh career triple-double in playoffs. The Nuggets managed to keep the Timberwolves at bay, winning with a score of 120-111, leading 3-0 in the first-round playoff series. Michael Porter Jr. also played a pivotal role, scoring 25 points and nine rebounds, while Jamal Murray pitched in 18 points and nine assists. Despite Anthony Edwards' excellent performance, the Timberwolves' energy was not enough to beat the Nuggets. Edwards scored 36 points to raise his series total to 95. Karl-Anthony Towns added 27 points after totaling only 21 over the first two games. Rudy Gobert provided 18 points and 10 rebounds.