No NBA team has ever recovered from falling behind 3-0 in a series, so if the Hawks had lost, they would have been forever doomed.
Friday night showed a glimmer of hope as Atlanta Hawks were rescued from a 3-0 deficit against the Celtics by their 24-year-old point guard Trae Young. As the host Atlanta Hawks defeated the Boston Celtics 130-122 in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series on Friday night, Trae Young had a game-high 32 points and nine assists. Although, a single game cannot alter the course of the season. Yet, this single-man show seems to pay dividends for the Hawks at the most critical juncture of their NBA season.
In the dying moments of the third quarter and with 45.5 seconds remaining, the Hawks led 126-121 after Trae Young made a jumper after Jayson Tatum missed a 3-point attempt as Boston trailed 124-121. After that, the Celtics didn’t pose a threat.
Trae Young scored nine points in a row as the Atlanta Hawks sealed the victory while shooting 12-of-22 from the field and adding six rebounds. Young scored nine points in a row as the Hawks sealed the victory while shooting 12-of-22 from the field and adding six rebounds and two blocked shots. The other player who attracted the attention of the journalists in that game was Dejounte Murray, who added 25 points to Atlanta in the game. Clint Capela also had a fine night and supplemented the game for the Hawks with his 11 rebounds.
For the visiting side, Jason Tatum led the attack by scoring 29 points, 10 boards, and 5 assists. Malcolm Brogdon and Marcus Smart also chipped in with 17 points and 24 points respectively. The Hawks scored 41 points in the second quarter to take a 74-67 lead into halftime while the Celtics led 37-33 after one quarter. With 6:32 left in the second quarter, Boston led 53-50, but the Hawks used a 20-3 run to go up 70-56 with 3:15 left in the half. In the first half, Atlanta made 30 of 46 field goal attempts (65.2 per cent), including 8 of 16 three-point attempts.
Additionally, Atlanta led the first half in points scored in the paint, 34-10. With 8:13 left in the third quarter, a 3-pointer by Jaylen Brown for Boston tied the score at 79-79. The Atlanta Hawks then went on an 8-0 run to take the lead back. Atlanta led at the end, 100-93. After this beaming victory, the reaction of the victorious heroes is to be recorded, so in an interview, “Absolutely. I don’t want to talk about Boston a lot but I look at Jayson (Tatum) and Jaylen (Brown) a lot, two guys who were going through it a lot, just to get to the level they’re at. Great things don’t happen overnight. Great things take time.”
No NBA team has ever recovered from falling behind 3-0 in a series, so if the Hawks had lost, they would have been forever doomed. It’s okay that Boston continues to be the clear favourite to advance to the next round. However, the Hawks’ effort did something. Hawks play the next game on Sunday night in front of their home crowd and it will be interesting to see whether they can stage a comeback.
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