Trae Young scored 32 points in his best game of the playoffs and the Atlanta Hawks gave themselves a glimmer of hope, beating the visiting Boston Celtics 130-122 Friday night to close the gap to 2-1 in the opening-round series.
The seventh-seeded Hawks will try to even the series against the second-seeded Celtics in Game 4 on Sunday night at State Farm Arena.
Jayson Tatum scored 29 points to lead Boston, which was barely challenged in the first two games of the series.
Young was under fire after making just 14 of 40 shots in Beantown. He was much better in Game 3, connecting on 12 of 22 attempts and doling out nine assists.
Dejounte Murray had another big game for the Hawks, scoring 25 points, including a 3-pointer with 1:40 remaining that helped Atlanta protect a puny lead.
Unlike the first two games in Boston, where the Celtics pushed out to big leads and cruised to a pair of 13-point victories, the Hawks finally put up a fight.
Pumped up by a standing-room-only crowd, the Hawks built a 14-point lead — their biggest of the series — late in the first half.
But the Celtics responded with eight straight points and went to the locker room down 74-67.
It was Atlanta’ first victory over Boston this season. The Hawks dropped all three regular-season meetings.
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