Celtics survive wild Game 6, eliminate Hawks

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The defending Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics narrowly avoided the nightmare scenario: Game 7 against Trae Young and his seventh-seeded Atlanta Hawks after leading the first-round series, 3-1.

Late in the fourth quarter of a wild ride that featured 22 lead changes and 15 ties, the Celtics finally established their first cushion since the game’s opening minutes, as mainstays Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart and Al Horford executed to perfection down the stretch of a 128-120 victory.

The rest was far from perfect, but the Celtics eliminated the Hawks in Game 6 to advance to the conference semifinals, where they will face the third-seeded Philadelphia 76ers. Game 1 is scheduled for Monday night.

“We didn’t want to be the team going home with an L,” said Brown, “so we just found a way to win.”

Brown scored a team-high 32 points. Tatum added 30 points and team highs of 14 rebounds and seven assists. Game 6 marked the second time in the series — and in their playoff careers — that both scored 30 points in the same game. Including the regular season, Boston is now 23-1 when both eclipse 30 points.

Young’s 30 points led the Hawks, who got double-digit scoring nights from five others, including De’Andre Hunter (20 points). Dejounte Murray, fresh off his Game 5 suspension, added 14 points and 11 assists.

After scoring 25 points in the first half, Young missed 12 of 13 shots in the second half.

Brown’s 3-pointer over Murray with five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter forced the game’s last tie, 113-113. Horford and Tatum followed with back-to-back 3-pointers, and Tatum’s dunk of an errant Horford 3 pushed Boston’s advantage to 121-113 with 2:07 left. Atlanta never drew within two possessions again.

“Just understanding it was time,” Tatum said of what motivated the Celtics’ effort in the last five minutes, when they blitzed the Hawks for 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting (4 for 6 from deep). “It was a back-and-forth game. They were hitting big shots; we were hitting big shots. We could feel it. Everybody was locked in, getting blocks, chasing down rebounds, hitting big shots. We’ve been in that situation…

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Publish date : 2023-04-28 02:59:40

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