NBA ▶Hawks clinch their first playoff berth since 2017 with a 120-116 win over the Wizards.
Young rallies Atlanta in fourth
Trae Young scored 33 points and John Collins hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 24.4 seconds remaining Wednesday night, rallying Atlanta to a 120116 victory over the Washington Wizards to clinch the Hawks’ first playoff berth since 2017.
Atlanta came into the night tied for fourth place in the Eastern Conference and looking to solidify home-court advantage in the opening round.
That’s still up in the air, but the Hawks are definitely headed to the playoffs after going through a painful, massive rebuilding job that still appeared to be a work in progress when the team fired coach Lloyd Pierce shortly before the All-star break while mired at 14-20.
Under interim coach Nate Mcmillan, who should receive strong consideration in the Coach of the Year balloting, the Hawks have posted a 25-11 mark to stamp themselves a dangerous foe heading into the postseason.
Russell Westbrook scored 34 points and dished out 15 assists, but it wasn’t enough to prevent another excruciating loss for the Wizards, whose last five defeats have been by a total of 10 points.
Two nights after breaking Oscar Roberson’s record with his 182nd career triple-double, Westbrook came up a bit short of No. 183. He was held to five rebounds.
The Wizards were up 100-87 — matching their biggest lead of the night — when Davis Bertans knocked down a 3-pointer off a dish from Westbrook with just more than 10 minutes left.
It didn’t hold up. After missing a couple of 3s that could’ve put them ahead, the Hawks finally knocked one down.
Clint Capela got it started with a block on Westbrook, sending the Hawks on a fast break the other way. Young spotted Collins all alone in the corner for the 3 that put the Hawks ahead 117-116.
Raul Neto missed a 10-foot jumer for Washington. Solomon Hill rebounded, was fouled and knocked down both free throws.
The Wizards had one more gasp, but Bertans missed a long 3 from the top of the key. Collins was fouled and sealed the victory by making one of two free throws with 3.7 seconds left.
Collins finished with 18 points. Bogdan Bogdanovic had 20 for the Hawks, while Shenendehowa graduate Kevin Huerter contributed six points and six rebounds.
Atlanta beat the Wizards for the second time in three nights.
Nets 128, Spurs 116: James Harden had 18 points and 11 assists in his return from an 18-game absence to help Brooklyn beat San Antonio. Coming off the bench in an NBA game for the first time since he won the league’s Sixth Man award for Oklahoma City in 2011-12, Harden also had seven rebounds after the longest layoff of his career, missing more than a month because of a strained right hamstring. Landry Shamet scored 21 points and Nicolas Claxton had a career-high 18 for the Nets. They won their third straight and pulled within 1 1⁄2 games of Philadelphia for the Eastern Conference lead.
Cavaliers 102, Celtics 94 Kevin Love scored a seasonhigh 30 points, Collin Sexton added 28 and Cleveland beat Boston to end an 11-game losing streak, locking the Celtics into a spot in the NBA’S play-in tournament. Love made six 3pointers, including two in an 11-0 run early in the fourth quarter, and had 14 rebounds as Cleveland closed out a miserable season at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse with its first win since April 21.