NBA: Trae Young-led Hawks stun Heat, advance to playoffs
Trae Young #11 of the Atlanta Hawks lays it up during the second quarter against the Miami heatat Kaseya Center on April 11, 2023 in Miami, Florida. Bryan Cereijo/Getty Images/AFP
Trae Young scored 25 points and Clint Capela grabbed a game-high 21 rebounds to lead the Atlanta Hawks to a 116-105 win over the host Miami Heat in a play-in game on Tuesday night.
Atlanta, which entered Miami as the eighth seed, advanced to the playoffs in the No. 7 position, where they will meet the second-seeded Boston Celtics.
Miami, which started Tuesday in the seventh spot, will get one more chance to make the playoffs. The Heat on Friday will play host to the winner of Wednesday’s game between the Chicago Bulls and Toronto Raptors. Either Miami, Chicago or Toronto will face the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks in the first round of the playoffs.
Young finished with eight rebounds and seven assists. The Hawks had big edges in rebounds (63-39) and paint points (64-46).
Trae Young (25 PTS, 8 REB, 7 AST) came up HUGE in the #ATTPlayIn!
The @ATLHawks will face BOS in Round 1… series starts Saturday on ESPN 🔥 pic.twitter.com/zjFLIV76im
— NBA (@NBA) April 12, 2023
Reserve Kyle Lowry led Miami with a game-high 33 points. Tyler Herro had 26 points and Jimmy Butler added 21 points and a game-high nine assists. However, Butler was just 6-for-19 from the floor, with many of his misses influenced by Capela.
Atlanta dominated the first quarter, shooting 56 percent from the floor while holding Miami to 37.5 percent marksmanship. The Hawks ended the quarter on top, 36-27, as Young had five points and five assists.
The Hawks led by as many as 24 points in the second quarter and took a 65-50 advantage into halftime. Miami had an 11-0 run late in the second quarter, a stretch that was interrupted by two Young free throws with 0.9 seconds remaining. Young used a hesitation move to draw a foul on Max Strus.
For the first half, Atlanta had a 34-22 rebound edge and an 8-4 edge on 3-pointers made. That helped to negate Lowry’s 19-point first half.
Miami surged in the third quarter, cutting its deficit to 73-68 on a Butler layup with 6:15 remaining. But Atlanta responded, taking a 91-78 lead into the fourth.
The Heat charged back in the fourth, cutting their deficit to 97-91 on a Lowry 3-pointer with 7:42 left. But the Heat couldn’t get any closer.
