By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Trae Young scored 25 points, Swiss big man Clint Capela grabbed 21 rebounds to go along with four points and two blocks and the Atlanta Hawks clinched the 7th seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs by beating the Miami Heat 116-105 in a play-in tournament game.
Serb sharp-shooter Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 14 points, Dejounte Murray added 18 points for the Hawks, who avenged a five-game Round 1 loss to Miami last season and earned an East first-round matchup with Boston.
Kyle Lowry scored 33 points, his highest-scoring game in his two Miami seasons, for the Heat, who will host either Toronto or Chicago on Friday to decide the No. 8 seed and a spot against top overall seed Milwaukee in Round 1. Still Miami become the first team to finish 7th and lose a game in the play-in tournament.
For the Hawks, in total four reserves — Bogdanovic, Saddiq Bey, Onyeka Okongwu and Jalen Johnson — combined for 53 points.
“Our guys are trying to be the best version of ourselves at the end of the year,” Atlanta coach Quin Snyder said. “The year’s not over. So hopefully we can take this and continue to build on it. It’s one game — but it was our game.”
The Hawks improved to 3-0 all-time in play-in tournament games; that’s the best mark in the league, one that New Orleans can match when it plays host to Oklahoma City.
And they earned this one on the boards. Atlanta out-rebounded Miami 63-39, including 22-6 on the offensive glass that keyed a 26-6 edge in second-chance points.