MANILA – Atlanta Hawks leaned on an endgame breakaway to eliminate Philadelphia 76ers, 103-96, in the do-or-die Game 7 of the NBA Eastern Conference semifinals on Sunday night at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
With the score tied at 86-all, the Hawks got back-to-back hits from Kevin Huerter and Clint Capela for a 90-87 edge. It climbed further to 93-87 on a long-range three-pointer by Trae Young.
The 76ers scraped the deficit to 92-93 on Tobias Harris’ basket, but three free throws by Huerter and a breakaway dunk by Danilo Gallinari stretched the Hawks’ lead to 98-92 with under a minute left.
Philadelphia rallied to establish a 94-98 advantage on an inside conversion by Shake Milton. However, free throws by Young and Gallinari secured the win for Atlanta.
Huerter ended the match with 27 points, while Young added 21 markers but shot 5-of-23 on the field to go along with 10 assists as Gallinari contributed 17 points for the Hawks.
Atlanta wrapped up the best-of-seven conference semifinals series at 4-3 and will next face Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference finals on Wednesday (Thursday in the Philippines).
Joel Embiid tallied a double-double of 31 points and 11 rebounds, while Tobias Harris and Seth Curry posted 24 and 16 markers, respectively, for the East’s top-seeded 76ers.
Meanwhile, Phoenix Suns started the best-of-seven NBA Western Conference finals with 120-114 Game 1 domination over the Los Angeles Clippers.
From a 95-all count early in the fourth, the Suns went on a 10-0 blast behind triples by Devin Booker and Cameron Payne and inside hits by Booker and Cameron Johnson for a 105-95 advantage.
The Clippers rallied to come to within 114-116 with 22 seconds left. A layup and two free throws by Booker allowed the Suns to notch the victory.
Booker recorded a triple-double of 40 points, 13 rebounds, and 11 assists, while DeAndre Ayton added 20 markers for the Suns. Miles Bridges and Jae Crowder chipped in 14 and 13 markers, respectively.
BOX SCORE:
ATLANTA 103 – Huerter 27, Young 21, Gallinari 17, Collins 14, Capela 13, Williams 6, Bogdanovic 4, Okongwu 1, Hill 0.
PHILADELPHIA 96 – Embiid 31, Harris 24, Curry 16, Thybulle 8, Simmons 5, Korkmaz 5, Hill 3, Milton 2, Maxey 2, Howard 0.
QUARTERSCORES:
25-28, 48-46, 76-71, 103-96./PN
