Sports

Young leads Hawks to 128-124 playoff win, Clippers send Dallas home

Sports Desk, Jun 6 (EFE).- Trae Young notched a double-double on Sunday, scoring 35 points and contributing 10 assists in Atlanta’s NBA 128-124 Eastern Conference semifinals road win over Philadelphia.

The Hawks, who ended the regular season in fifth place in the Eastern Conference, now stand at 1-0 in the best-of-seven series.

Young scored on four of his 11 3-point shots and made nine of nine from the free throw line.

He was the second player in the history of the NBA to score 30 points in each of the first four post-season games in his career, joining the legendary Kareem Abdul-Jabbar of the Milwaukee Bucks who first set the record in 1970.

Serbian guard Bogdan Bogdanovic ended the game with 21 points and center John Collins also scored 21, including three triples on four attempts.

The Hawks ended the day with 20 baskets from outside the perimeter in 47 shots, compared to 10 of 29 for the Sixers, who also had a tougher time from the line, scoring on just 24 of 35 shots.

Reserve guard Kevin Huerter was the sixth player with the Hawks to score 15 points, including three triples on six attempts, and he also captured five rebounds and provided four assists.

Swiss center Clint Capela also notched a double-double with 11 points, 10 rebounds and a block.

The Hawks scored a franchise record in the playoffs with 74 points in a half and their 13 triples in the first half were a team record.

Atlanta was up 57-31 lead midway through second quarter and maintained that lead throughout the rest of the game, although it had dwindled to 116-99 with 4:42 remaining in the fourth quarter. Yet, the 76ers continued to push and the final score differential did not reflect Atlanta’s dominance virtually throughout the contest.

Philadelphia once again had the services of Cameroon’s Joel Embiid, who had recovered from the right knee cartilage injury he suffered against the Washington Wizards.

The Sixers reacted too late to Atlanta’s drives, pulling within three points with just 61 seconds to play after Embiid sank consecutive shots.

Bogdanovic raised his fingers to his lips to silence the noisy Sixers fans who had jammed the Wells Fargo Center by scoring the triple that sealed the win.

The Hawks hit on 14 of their first 18 shots from the field.

The second matchup between the two rivals will be played on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Clippers on their home court defeated the Dallas Mavericks in the seventh game of the first round playoffs in the Western Conference, a 126-111 win that eliminated the Texas team by putting LA up 4-3, thus earning them a berth in the conference semifinals, where they will go up against the Utah Jazz.

Kawhi Leonard was a powerhouse for LA, securing a triple-double by scoring 28 points, grabbing 10 rebounds and providing 9 assists.

He hit on 10 of his 15 shots from the field.

The star of the California squad shared the spotlight with Marcus Morris, who scored 23 points and got five rebounds, and with Paul George (22 points, six rebounds and 10 assists), on a team where seven players scored more than 10 points each.

The Clippers, who made a comeback drive from being down 2-3 after the first five games, were able to sink 46 percent of their triples.

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