Young scores 45 as Hawks top Knicks
Hawks 117, Knicks 111: Trae Young had 45 points and eight assists in his first game at Madison Square Garden since last season’s playoffs, leading a late surge that gave Atlanta a victory over host New York on Tuesday night.
Picking up right where he left off last spring, Young made seven 3-pointers, including one that tied the game at 105 with 2:54 to play. He then set up Bogdan Bogdanovic for a go-ahead 3 and followed another by De’Andre Hunter by leaving Taj Gibson behind off the dribble and knocking down a jumper to cap an 11-0 spurt and make it 113-105 with 1:04 left.
Bogdanovic added a season-high 32 points for the Hawks, who dropped the Knicks six games behind them for 10th place in the Eastern Conference, the final spot in the play-in field.
RJ Barrett had 28 points and 13 rebounds for the Knicks, who fell to 3042 to clinch their eighth losing season in the last nine. The only winning record was when they went 41-31 last season to earn the No. 4 seed in the East.
Bucks 126, Bulls 98: Giannis Antetokounmpo had 25 points and 17 rebounds in his return to action and host Milwaukee Bucks extended its recent mastery of Chicago. Antetokounmpo missed the Bucks’ 138-119 loss at Minnesota on Saturday due to a sore right knee. Milwaukee played without AllStar forward Khris Middleton, who was dealing with a sore left wrist.
Jrue Holiday had a game-high 27 points to go along with seven assists as the Bucks won for the 15th time in their last 16 meetings with the Bulls, including all three matchups this season.
Nikola Vucevic had 22 points for the Bulls, who opened a five-game trip one night after a 113-99 victory over the Toronto Raptors. DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine added 21 points each.
Magic 94, Warriors 90: Franz Wagner made three free throws with 12.2 seconds left and dunked on an inbounds play for the final points, leading host Orlando to a win over Golden State. Mo Bamba’s 3-pointer with 52 seconds left gave Orlando an 89-88 lead.
Wendell Carter Jr. led Orlando with 19 points and Wagner finished with 18.
With the Warriors’ loss, the NBAleading Phoenix Suns (58-14) clinched first place in the Pacific Division.
Jordan Poole scored 26 points for the Warriors, who shot 40% for the game and had seven turnovers in the fourth quarter on the way to their third straight loss. Klay Thompson added 15 points and Otto Porter Jr. had 14 points and 15 rebounds.
The Warriors shot 7 for 24 without and failed to hit a 3-pointer in the first quarter, falling behind 25-12 before Porter and Thompson scored the final five points of the period. Jonathan Kuminga had 10 points and four rebounds in the second quarter to keep the Warriors in it.