Kevin Huerter, Hawks upset No. 1 seeded 76ers in Game 7
Devin Booker carries Suns past Clippers in Game 1 of Western finals
Kevin Huerter scored a playoff career-high 27 points, Trae Young added 21 points and 10 assists and the fifth-seeded Atlanta Hawks stunned the host Philadelphia 76ers 103-96 in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals on Sunday.
The Hawks will face the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference finals.
Young shot 5 of 23, but made a couple of clutch shots down the stretch.
John Collins had 14 points and 16 rebounds while Danilo
Gallinari had 17 points and Clint Capela 13 for the Hawks, who reached the conference finals for the first time since 2015. The Hawks won three games at Philadelphia in this series.
Joel Embiid led the top-seeded Sixers with 31 points and 11 rebounds, yet committed eight turnovers. Tobias Harris added 24 points and 14 rebounds, Seth Curry had 16 points and Ben Simmons contributed 13 assists.
The Sixers haven’t reached the conference finals since 2001.
IN PHOENIX, Devin Booker posted his first career triple-double Sunday afternoon, when he scored 40 points and collected 13 rebounds and 11 assists as the Phoenix Suns outlasted the visiting Los Angeles Clippers, 120114, in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals.
Booker scored 16 consecutive points for the Suns in the third quarter and 29 in the second half for second-seeded Phoenix, which was without all-star point guard Chris Paul (health and safety protocols).
“Just doing anything in my power to get a win,” Booker told ESPN after the victory. “We have a really good collective group, we rely on each other.”
Game 2 is scheduled for Tuesday night in Phoenix. Considering the Clippers dropped the first two games in each of their first two series this postseason, Booker said the series is far from over.
“The game’s never over with them,” Booker said. “We’ve seen their past games and we know what they’re capable of, so we’ve got to be locked in all 48 minutes [in Game 2].”
“I think this was a good feelout game,” Clippers guard Paul George said afterward. “We’ve been great at adjustments [during this postseason]. We’ve been great at playing better as the series goes on.
“No excuses. We have to be better, obviously, but we’ll expect to make the adjustments we need to make for Game 2.” (Reuters)