Trae Young scores 32, Hawks beat Celtics 130-122 to close to 2-1

ATLANTA (AP)— Trae Young scored 32 points in his best game of the playoffs andthe Atlanta Hawks gave themselves a glimmer of hope, beating theBoston Celtics 130-122 Friday night to close the gap to 2-1 in theopening-round series.

Young hit a step-back3-pointer from the cornerwith 2:21 left and knocked downanother huge basket on a floater in the lane with 45 secondsremaining after Jaylen Brown missed a 3-pointer that would’ve tiedit for the Celtics.

Theseventh-seeded Hawks will try to even the series against thesecond-seeded Celtics in Game 4 on Sunday night at State FarmArena.

Jayson Tatumscored 29 points to lead Boston, which was barely challenged in thefirst two games of the series.

Young wasunder fire after making just 14 of 40 shots in Beantown. He wasmuch better in Game 3, connecting on 12 of 22 attempts and dolingout nine assists.

DejounteMurray had another big game for the Hawks, scoring 25 points,including a 3-pointer with 1:40 remaining that helped Atlantaprotect a puny lead.

Unlike thefirst two games in Boston, wherethe Celtics pushed out tobig leadsand cruised to a pair of 13-point victories, theHawks finally put up a fight.

With DerrickWhite forced to the bench in the early going with two quick fouls,the Hawks took advantage of a chink in the Boston defense to getthings rolling. Atlanta knocked down 30 of 46 shots (65.2%) in thefirst half.

Pumped up bya standing-room-only crowd, the Hawks built a 14-point lead — theirbiggest of the series — late in the first half.

But theCeltics responded with eight straight points and went to the lockerroom down 74-67.

It wasAtlanta’ first victory over Boston this season. The Hawks droppedall three regular-season meetings.

TIP-INS

Celtics:White played only 9:58 in the first half after being whistled for apair of fouls before the game was five minutes old. ... MarcusSmart landed hard on his lower back with about 2 1/2 minutes left,but stayed in the game, He finished with 24 points.

Hawks: BogdanBogdanovic took a shot to the face on Malcolm Brogdan’s lay-inearly in the fourth quarter. Bogdanovic kneeled over in the painand was subbed out during a timeout. ... Basketball Hall of FamerDominique Wilkins felt ill before the game and did not serve as ananalyst on the Hawks regional telecast. Brian Oliver took Wilkins’usual spot alongside play-by-play announcer Bob Rathbun.

LONG ODDS

The Hawksstill face long odds. They are 0-26 in playoff series over thefranchise’s 74-season history history when losing the first twogames.