Atlanta Hawks star Trae Young says he didn't have 'any doubt' his late floater would go in and sink Miami Heat

ATLANTA — Trae Young got his last shot to bounce in, Jimmy Butler missed his final heave and the Hawks beat the Miami Heat 111-110 to draw within 2-1 in their first-round playoff series with the East's top-seeded team.

«I didn't have any doubt that if I shot it, I wasn't going to make it,» said Young, whose floater with 4.4 seconds left capped a 16-point second-half comeback by Atlanta.

The eighth-seeded Hawks, who needed two play-in tournament wins just to earn a berth in the playoffs, seemed headed for a 3-0 series deficit at several junctures on Friday night.

First there was Miami's 21-0 run in the third quarter that sapped the energy from an otherwise raucous State Farm Arena and put the Heat in position to lead by double-digits in the fourth.

«We were down big,» said Onyeka Okongwu, who has filled in for injured center Clint Capela (knee) this series. «I'm looking up at the scoreboard, I'm like, 'We got to get this thing going.'»

Atlanta stormed all the way back to take a three-point lead on an and-one putback layup and free throw by Okongwu with 1:41 remaining. However, the Heat went ahead again in the final minute, 110-109, on a P.J. Tucker corner 3-pointer with 54.2 seconds left and things looked precarious for the Hawks once again.

After the Tucker make, the Hawks and Heat traded a pair of missed jump shots, leading to Bogdan Bogdanovic's defensive rebound with 9.8 seconds remaining.

«When we got that miss, down one, basically it was like, 'Go,'» said Hawks coach Nate McMillan. «And [Young] knows what to do with that basketball and was able to make a play on that last possession.»

While some could have questioned McMillan's reluctance to call a timeout in the third quarter when the Heat ran off the final 16