NBA Playoffs: Red-hot Heat bury Trae, Hawks to take Game 1

Miami reserve Duncan Robinson scored a career playoff high 27 points and the Heat defensively dominated Atlanta for a 115-91 victory in an NBA playoff series opener on Sunday.

Robinson sparkled by making 9-of-10 shots, including 8-of-9 from 3-point range, while Jimmy Butler added 21 points and P.J. Tucker contributed 16 for the Heat, who seized a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven first round series.

"We saw the confident Duncan," Butler said. "He doesn't care what anybody thinks. He saw some threes and he made them and that's what we need from him."

The Hawks and their star guard Trae Young suffered through a miserable night against Miami's defense.

Young went 1-of-12 from the floor, 0-of-7 from 3-point range, and had a season-low eight points.

"Just make it physical on him, challenge every shot, make him pass," Butler said of the Heat's strategy to shut down Young. "He can score in bunches and we don't want him to do that."

Atlanta opened with its worst-shooting quarter and worst-shooting half of the season. Although they started 3-of-17 from the floor, the Hawks trailed only 23-17 after the first.

Miami surged ahead in the second quarter to a 59-40 halftime lead. 

Young was only 1-of-9 in the first half as the Hawks went 11-for-38.

Asked if their defensive scheme had worked perfectly, Butler admitted, "We were really close. They missed a lot of shots."

The Hawks welcomed back forward John Collins, who missed the past 18 games with foot and finger sprains, but were without star big man Clint Capela, out with a right knee injury.

Later opening games Sunday found Brooklyn at Boston, Chicago at defending champion Milwaukee and New Orleans at Phoenix.

Agence France-Presse

Hawks, Pelicans book final NBA playoff berths

Trae Young scored 32 of his 38 points in the second half as the Atlanta Hawks rallied to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday and book the final NBA Eastern Conference playoff berth.

The New Orleans Pelicans, meanwhile, grabbed the last spot in the West, thwarting a Clippers rally in a 105-101 victory in Los Angeles.

The Hawks erased a double-digit halftime deficit in the play-in contest to line up a first-round series with Eastern Conference top seeds Miami, with game one scheduled for Sunday.

The Pelicans will face the Western Conference top-seeded Phoenix Suns in the first round.

New Orleans booked their first playoff berth since 2018 in dramatic style.

Brandon Ingram scored 30 points and Larry Nance Jr. added 14 points with 16 rebounds for New Orleans, who jumped out to a 16-point lead in the second quarter against a Clippers team that learned Friday morning they would be without All-Star Paul George because of coronavirus concerns.

But the Clippers charged back in the third quarter, opening the second half on a 20-2 scoring run. Los Angeles led by as many as 13 points in the fourth quarter before the Pelicans roared back.

"I knew what the stakes were, all of us wanted to be in the playoffs," said Ingram. "Whatever it took tonight, whether it was on the defensive end, offensive end, whatever it took I was going to do it."

In Cleveland, it was a heartbreaking finish to the season for a young Cavaliers squad, who fell one step shy of qualifying for the post-season for the first time since LeBron James departed the club in 2018.

The Cavs dominated early, but Young found his touch in the second half and five Hawks players scored in double figures to complete the turnaround.

"I felt like I was letting my team down in the first half," said Young, who had four turnovers along with six points before the interval.

"I was missing some shots. We were only down 10 in the halftime and I knew I needed to make some more shots for my teammates."

In fact, Young stepped up his game on all fronts. He scored or assisted on 43 of 56 second-half points for Atlanta, accounting for more than the 40 points that Cleveland scored after the break.

Young said it was just "more motivation" when center Clint Capela departed with a hyper-extended right knee moments before halftime.

Capela had grabbed Cavs rookie Evan Mobley from behind as Mobley was shooting, but Mobley fell back into Capela's legs and the veteran fell to the court holding his knee in pain.

After officials reviewed the play the call of a common foul stood, but Capela was ruled out for the rest of the contest.

- 'Show it' -

"We wanted to win for him," Young said. "We know how hard he's worked all year wanting to get in the playoffs. We hope he's going to be able to bounce back for us."

Cleveland had jumped to a double-digit lead in the first quarter, boosted by the three-point shooting of Lauri Markkanen who scored 17 first-half points.

Markkanen led the Cavaliers with 26 points and Darius Garland added 21.

All-Star center Jarrett Allen returned to Cleveland's starting lineup after missing 19 games with a broken left finger, scoring 11 points with three rebounds.

But with Young leading the way the Hawks turned the tables in the third quarter, taking the lead for the first time on a three-pointer from Young with 1:42 left in the period.

"Nobody had to say anything to me," said Young, whose driving basket early in the fourth quarter put the Hawks up for good. "I know the work I put in, the confidence I have and I've got to go out and show it."

Agence France-Presse

NBA: Young, Hunter star as Hawks sting Hornets

LOS ANGELES -- Trae Young scored 24 points as the Atlanta Hawks thrashed the Charlotte Hornets 132-103 to keep their playoff hopes alive on Wednesday.

A decisive burst of scoring from Young and De'Andre Hunter in the third quarter saw the Hawks take control against an outclassed Charlotte team at Atlanta's State Farm Arena.

Atlanta will now face Cleveland in the final round of the play-in tournament on Friday, where a place in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs -- against top-seeded Miami -- will be up for grabs.

"We're clicking at the right time and this is the time to be clicking," Young said after the blowout. "We're a good team."

After edging into a 60-52 halftime lead, Atlanta effectively sealed victory with a devastating third quarter performance, outscoring the Hornets 42-24 and racing into a lead that stretched to 26 points at one stage.

Hunter and Young combined for 30 of those points in the third quarter, Hunter scoring 16 and Young adding 14, including three from outside the arc.

Hunter finished with 22 points as Atlanta's balanced offense once again shared the scoring around. 

Six Atlanta players finished in double figures, with Danilo Gallinari claiming 18 points, Clint Capela chipping in with 15 and Kevin Huerter and Bogdan Bogdanovic adding 13 points apiece.

"It took me a couple of quarters to get going, but my teammates did a hell of a job making plays," Young said. 

"We've got a lot of guys who can play. We've dealt with a lot of injuries this year but we've got a lot of guys who can step up and make plays anytime throughout the game."

In Wednesday's other play-in game, the San Antonio Spurs face the New Orleans Pelicans in another sudden death elimination game. 

The winner of the Spurs-Pelicans game will advance to a clash with the Los Angeles Clippers for a place in the Western Conference playoffs and a meeting against top seeds Phoenix.

Agence France-Presse

NBA: Trae Young scores 41 to lead Hawks past Cavs

Trae Young scored 41 points -- his fifth game with 40-plus points this season -- to lead the Atlanta Hawks to a 124-116 win over the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night.

Young was 13 of 22 from the floor, including 4 of 7 from long distance. He also went 11 of 13 from the foul line and had nine assists. 

It marked the second straight 30-plus-point effort for Young and the 23rd time this season to reach that milestone.

Atlanta also got a season-high 25 points from Danilo Gallinari, who started at forward in place of John Collins, the team's No. 2 scorer, who missed his second straight game with a foot injury.

Cleveland was led by Darius Garland, who scored 30 points and added eight assists. 

Garland has 20-plus points in nine of his past 11 games and remained on pace to become the second player in league history to average 20 points, eight-plus assists, shoot 46-plus percent from the field and 90-plus percent from the line.

Evan Mobley added 22 points and 10 rebounds, and Kevin Love came off the bench to score 21 for the Cavs, who have lost two in a row.

Atlanta, which ended a two-game skid, leads the season series, 2-1. The teams split two earlier games in Cleveland and will meet for the final time on March 31.

Both teams were hot from the field in the first quarter, with Cleveland shooting 56.5 percent -- including eight 3-pointers -- and Atlanta making 54.2 percent. 

The Cavs led, 36-34, and Love scored 14 points, putting him over 14,000 for his career.

Atlanta, led by Young's 11 second-quarter points, took a 66-61 lead into intermission. Garland had 18 points in the first half.

The Hawks led, 94-90, after three quarters and were able to squash any Cleveland attempt to regain the lead in the final period.

The Cavs got within 105-102 on a bucket by Love with 6:33 left, but Atlanta answered with an 8-2 run that included 3-pointers from Young and Hunter that established a nine-point lead. 

Cleveland never got closer than four thereafter.

-reuters

NBA: Trae Young’s double-double leads surging Hawks past Spurs

Trae Young scored 31 points and dished out 11 assists and keyed an early third-quarter run that broke open the game as the visiting Atlanta Hawks steamrolled the San Antonio Spurs, 124-106, on Wednesday to capture their sixth straight contest.

The Hawks led by seven points at the half and stretched that advantage to 17 by midway through the third period. Young had 10 points in that pivotal stretch and scored 17 of his points after halftime as Atlanta dominated in the second half and won on the road for just the second time this season.

Bogdan Bogdanovic added 18 points for the Hawks, with John Collins scoring 15, Lou Williams and Cam Reddish hitting for 12 apiece, Clint Capela tallying 11 points and taking 13 rebounds, and Kevin Huerter and Danilo Gallinari scoring 10 points each.

Bryn Forbes led the Spurs with 23 points, while Dejounte Murray added 22 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds, and Jakob Poeltl and Keldon Johnson scored 15 points each. Poeltl also grabbed 10 rebounds for San Antonio, which has lost six straight games and is off to its worst start since the 1996-97 season

The Spurs led by as many as seven points in the first quarter, thanks to Murray's 13 points, before two baskets by Young in the final 39.6 seconds evened the game at 27 at the end of the period. The game went back and forth in the second period before the Hawks took a 55-54 lead on Bogdanovic's 3-pointer at the 3:24 mark and pushed their advantage to 65-58 at the half as Young again hit two late baskets.

Murray led all scorers with 15 points at the half, with Poeltl adding 12 and Forbes contributing 11 points off the bench for the Spurs. San Antonio stayed close thanks to 13 second-chance points.

Young had 14 points at the half for Atlanta while Bogdanovic hit for 10. The Hawks outshot San Antonio 53.1 percent to 43.4 percent over the first two quarters.

Atlanta took charge of the game in the first half of the third quarter, as Young hit for 10 points and assisted on a dunk by Capela to help the Hawks go up 84-67 by the 6:12 mark.

-reuters-