The Atlanta Hawks star is just the fourth player in NBA history with a 40-point triple double. He scored 23 points on 10/19 shooting from 3-5 and added 11 assists, but his most impressive stat was actually an assist: he had 7 dimes to go along with it. After he hit the three pointer that put Miami away for good, you could see him walk over to himself as if to say “I told you so.”
The “hawks nba” is a team from the National Basketball Association that was founded in 1946. The Atlanta Hawks are a professional basketball team based in Atlanta, Georgia. They play their home games at Philips Arena and are currently owned by Tony Ressler.
ATLANTA, Ga. — The Hawks beat the Miami Heat 111-110 to pull within 2-1 in their first-round playoff series with the East’s top-seeded team. Trae Young’s final shot bounced in, Jimmy Butler’s final heave was missed, and the Hawks pulled within 2-1 in their first-round playoff series with the East’s top-seeded team.
“I knew if I shot it, I wasn’t going to make it,” Young said of his floater with 4.4 seconds remaining, which sealed Atlanta’s 16-point second-half rally.
At various points on Friday night, the eighth-seeded Hawks, who required two play-in tournament victories just to make the playoffs, seemed to be heading for a 3-0 series deficit.
The first was Miami’s 21-0 third-quarter surge, which stole the energy from a normally loud State Farm Arena and placed the Heat in position to lead by double digits in the fourth.
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Onyeka Okongwu, who has substituted in for injured center Clint Capela (knee) this season, stated, “We were down huge.” “I’m staring up at the scoreboard, thinking to myself, ‘We’ve got to get this thing started.’”
With 1:41 left, Atlanta roared back to grab a three-point lead on a and-one putback layup and free throw by Okongwu. However, the Heat took a 110-109 lead in the last minute on a P.J. Tucker corner 3-pointer with 54.2 seconds remaining, putting the Hawks in jeopardy once again.
Following Tucker’s basket, the Hawks and Heat swapped failed jump shots, resulting in Bogdan Bogdanovic’s defensive rebound with 9.8 seconds left.
“It was practically ‘Go’ after we got that miss, down one,” Hawks coach Nate McMillan said. “And [Young] understands how to handle the ball and was able to make a play on the final possession.”
While some may have questioned McMillan’s hesitation to take a timeout in the third quarter after the Heat scored the last 16 points of their 21-0 run without McMillan calling a timeout, that instinct helped the Hawks create Young’s game-winning basket.
“I had no intention of calling a timeout,” McMillan added. “It was a wonderful opportunity for us, as we were returning to transition and he saw a lane and attacked. He was adamant about not settling. He went towards the hoop and was successful. So that’s the play we’re going to go with almost every time.”
Young (24 points, seven rebounds, four assists) was praised by Heat coach Erik Spoelstra for stepping up when the Hawks needed him the most.
Spoelstra stated, “Young got a little bit of an angle and he was able to make a difficult runner.” “He makes it seem simple, but going full speed and with the touch is not an easy shot. It seemed like it grazed every inch of the rim.”
Trae Young said of his floater with 4.4 seconds remaining that sealed Atlanta’s 16-point second-half rally, “I didn’t have any question that if I shot it, I wasn’t going to make it.” Getty Images/Kevin C. Cox
To set up its last possession, Miami took a timeout, and Butler missed a fadeaway 3 at the buzzer.
“I missed the shot, plain and easy,” said Butler, who had a career-high 45 points in Game 2 and ended with 20 points. “I’m going to create the next one.”
Atlanta advanced to 21-3 in its previous 24 home games, including Friday’s play-in victory over the Charlotte Hornets, and Young got some personal redemption after shooting 1-for-12 in Game 1 and then having 10 turnovers in Game 2.
After going 6-for-14 from the field with three turnovers in Game 3, Young stated, “I just wanted to come here and take care of the ball and at least give our team a chance on the offensive end.” “All I have to do now is keep doing it. I had to do it again since it was just one game.”
Okongwu (nine points on 4-for-4 shooting, six rebounds) and Bogdanovic (18 points, eight rebounds, six assists, two steals) were significant contributors off the bench for the Hawks (13 points on 6-for-6 shooting, five rebounds).
“It was like a breath of relief,” Wright recalled of the locker room atmosphere after the game. “After losing two games against them, we knew we had to win one of these games.”
It’s a pressure McMillan hopes his squad can continue to handle as they attempt to prolong their already extraordinary playoff run.
“With our backs against the wall, the only thing we spoke about in the fourth quarter was being cool,” he remarked. “I believed our lads had regained their composure. I took a deep breath and regained my composure.”
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