TRAE Young scored 36 points – nine in the final minute – to help the Atlanta Hawks offset a career-high 55-point night from Kevin Durant and hang on to beat the visiting Brooklyn Nets 122-115 on Saturday (Sunday in Manila).
After Brooklyn cut Atlanta’s lead to 111-108 on a Durant dunk with 1:25 remaining, Young scored on a floater and 3-pointer to push the lead back to eight points with 23.5 seconds left. The Hawks were 6-for-6 at the line in the final minute, four by Young, to put the game away.
Atlanta won its fifth straight game and moved into No. 8 in the Eastern Conference, dropping Brooklyn into the 10th spot. Young was 10-for-24 from the floor, four of them 3s, and 12-for-14 from the line, along with 10 assists and six rebounds for his 39th double-double. De’Andre Hunter and Danilo Gallinari each scored 15.
Durant was 19-for-28 from the floor and 8-for-10 on 3-pointers with seven rebounds and bested his career high of 54 points against Golden State when he was a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2014. Kyrie Irving scored 31 points, including seven 3s, and six assists. The Nets have lost three of four.
In other games, it was the Warriors 111, Jazz 107; Sixers 144, Hornets 114; Cavs 119, Knicks 101; and Heat 127, Bulls 109.
Warriors 111, Jazz 107
Klay Thompson bombed in 12 of his game-high 36 points in an 18-0 fourth-quarter flurry as Golden State rallied to knock off Utah in San Francisco.
The improbable win, after they trailed by 21 points midway through the second quarter, allowed the Warriors to clinch a postseason berth. Thompson finished 8-for-17 on 3-pointers and the Warriors 20-for-48. Jordan Poole finished with 31 points, Andrew Wiggins chipped in with 17 points, and Draymond 10 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.
Guards Donovan Mitchell and Mike Conley had 26 points apiece for Utah, while Rudy Gobert posted 14 points and a game-high 20 rebounds. Conley had a game-high eight assists. — Field Level Media
