ATLANTA (AP) — Al Horford hit a crucial 3-pointer against his former team and the Boston Celtics made a difference in the final minutes of a tight game to beat the Atlanta Hawks 128-120 on Thursday night for a 4-1 win. 2 their first-round playoff series.
The second-seeded Celtics in the Eastern Conference will face the Philadelphia 76ers, who have been resting since completing a four-game series sweep against Brooklyn last Saturday.
The first game is scheduled for Monday night in Boston.
Boston mounted an 11-0 run that included three straight 3-pointers — by Jayson Tatum, Horford’s, and Jaylen Brown, respectively.
Tatum capped the streak with a dunk that put the Celtics up 121-113 with 2:07 to go.
Brown led the Celtics with 32 points, while Tatum added 30. Horford, who played in Atlanta from 2007 to 2016, contributed 10 points and 12 rebounds.
After leading an unlikely victory for the Hawks in Game 5 of the series in Boston, Trae Young ran out of gas in the second half. He missed 12 of the 13 shots he attempted in the final two quarters.
Young finished with 30 points and 10 assists, but shot just 9 of 28 from the field.