By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
What a time for Trae Young to play his best game of the series so far against the Boston Celtics.
Badly needing a win to keep the Atlanta Hawks’ NBA Playoff campaign alive, the crafty superstar point guard delivered a performance for the ages after dropping 38 points during the crucial Game 5 win over the Celtics, 119-117, last April 26, 2023.
Young went unconscious in the last four minutes of the game and scored 14 straight points including the game-winning three-pointer that gave the Hawks the 119-117 lead.
With 7.3 seconds left in the clock and the Hawks desperately needing a bucket to win, Young gathered from the backcourt and sized up Jaylen Brown from way downtown that silenced the whole TD Garden Arena.
The Celtics had the chance to tie or win the ball game with 0.5 seconds left but Jayson Tatum’s catch-and-shoot trey from the left elbow missed the rim and allowed Atlanta to live another day.
Boston was clinging to their six-point lead with 3:22 remaining in the game but Young drilled back-to-back three-pointers that equalized the ball game at 111-all.
The Celtics countered and retook the lead after Robert Williams III collected the offensive rebound off an Al Horford miss from the three-point territory and successfully tipped in the ball.
With 1:39 remaining in the game and Boston trying to protect their 113-111 lead, Young continued to carry the Hawks after sinking three clutch shots from the charity stripe.
As Young drew the foul when he drove to the basket, an unfortunate turn of events doomed Boston after Tatum was whistled for a technical foul that awarded Young a third free throw.
The Celtics’ TD Garden then again exploded after Tatum assisted an alley-oop pass to a running Williams III who slammed the ball for a 114-115 lead with 27 seconds left in the game.
Young kept the Hawks alive after drawing a foul on Marcus Smart that gave him another pair of free throws but Boston’s Derrick White helped the Celtics gain advantage again after sinking both of his shots from the charity stripe when he got fouled going to the basket.
Atlanta called timeout to set the last offensive play that saw Young bury the game-winning three-pointer to help the Hawks take Game 5 and will head home to Atlanta in an attempt to force a win-or-go-home Game 7 if they win Game 6.
