Young’s big game lifts Hawks over mighty C’s

Trae Young scored 32 points in his best game of this postseason and the Hawks gave themselves a glimmer of hope, beating the Celtics 130-122 Friday night in Atlanta to close the gap to 2-1 in their opening-round series.

Young hit a stepback 3-pointer from the corner with 2:21 left and knocked down another huge basket on a floater in the lane with 45 seconds remaining after Jaylen Brown missed a 3-pointer that would’ve tied it for the Celtics.

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 two games in Boston. He was much better in Game 3, shooting 12-for-22 and doling out nine assists.

Dejounte Murray had another big game for the Hawks, scoring 25 points.

Nuggets 120, Timberwolves 108

In Minneapolis, Nikola Jokic had his seventh career triple-double in the playoffs with 20 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists for the Nuggets, who fended off the Timberwolves to take a 3-0 lead in the first-round NBA playoff series.

Michael Porter Jr. had 25 points and nine rebounds and Jamal Murray added 18 points and nine assists for Denver, which can close the series out with a win Sunday night in Game 4 in Minneapolis.

Anthony Edwards scored 36 points to raise his series total to 95, Karl-Anthony Towns had 27 points after totaling only 21 points over the first two games and Rudy Gobert had 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Timberwolves.

Raptors firing their winningest coach

Nick Nurse was fired Friday as head coach of the Raptors, four years after he led the franchise to its first and only NBA championship. Nurse went 227-163 in his five seasons with Toronto, and his .582 winning percentage ranks as the best of any coach in franchise history.

Leonard out with sprained knee

Kawhi Leonard will miss Game 4 on Saturday for the Clippers against the Suns with a right knee sprain, leaving them without their superstar for a second straight playoff game.