LOS ANGELES: Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum combined for 62 points and the Boston Celtics clamped down late to hold off the Atlanta Hawks in a 128-120 thriller on Thursday to win their NBA Eastern Conference first-round playoff series.
The Celtics, trying to get back to the NBA Finals after falling last season to the Golden State Warriors, won the best-of-seven series 4-2 to line up a conference semifinal showdown with a Philadelphia 76ers team led by Joel Embiid and James Harden.
Trae Young, hero of the Hawks’ 119-117 come-from-behind victory in Game 5 that extended the series on Tuesday, scored 30 points with 10 assists.
But Young ran out of gas in the second half, scoring just five points after the break and finishing the game nine-for-28 from the field.