Celtics pull away, beat Hawks 128-120 for 4-2 series win

ATLANTA (AP)— Al Horford hit a huge 3-pointer against his former team and theBoston Celtics broke open a tight game in the closing minutes tofinish off the Atlanta Hawks 128-120 on Thursday night for a 4-2victory in the opening-round playoff series.

Thesecond-seeded Celtics advance to face the third-seeded Philadelphia76ers, who’ve been resting since completing their four-game sweepof Brooklyn last Saturday.

Game 1 isMonday night in Boston.

Boston rippedoff an 11-0 run that included three straight 3-pointers, withHorford’s big shot sandwiched around 3s from Jayson Tatum andJaylen Brown.

Tatum cappedthe spurt with a dunk, which gave the Celtics a 121-113 lead with2:07 remaining.

Brown led the Celtics with 32 points,while Tatum had 30. Horford, who played in Atlanta from2007-16, chipped in with 10 points and 12 rebounds.

Aftercarrying the Hawks to an improbable victory in Game 5 at Boston,Atlanta’s Trae Young ran out of steam in the second half. He missed12 of 13 shots over the final two quarters.

Young had 30points and 10 assists, but he finished just 9 of 28 from thefield.

Marcus Smartalso came up big for Boston, scoring 22 points and brilliantlyrunning the Boston offense down the stretch.

DejounteMurray returned to the Hawks lineup after serving a one-gamesuspension for bumping an official at the end of Atlanta’s Game 4loss.

Murray seemeda bit out of sync, missing all five of his shots in the first half.He was better in the second half but still managed just 14points.

The Hawksneeded a few more to keep their season going.

Young forcedthe series back to Atlanta with a long 3-pointer that stunned theCeltics 119=117 in Boston, capping the Hawks’ improbable comebackfrom a 13-point deficit in the fourth quarter.

Coming offhis 38-point, 13-assist effort, Young kept it going with 18 pointsin the first quarter.

But theCeltics finally clamped down on the Hawks star, whose heroics hadforced Janet Jackson to postpone her scheduled Thursday concertuntil Friday to make room for Game 6.

Now, StateFarm Arena is wide open for the summer.

TIP-INS

Celtics:Boston finished 18 of 42 from 3-point range. Every Boston startedmade at least one from long range, as did three players off thebench. ... Malcom Brgodon had 17 points. ... Tatum led the Celticswith 14 rebounds.

Hawks: Allfive Atlanta starters scored in double figures. De’Andre Hunter had20 points, John Collins added 16 and Clint Capela finished with 10.... Onyeka Okongwu grabbed 11 rebounds.