The Atlanta Hawks were never supposed to be here, but here they are headed to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2015. Trae Young and an eager Hawks team managed to win the first Game 7 road victory in Hawks history.
The first instinct Young had after advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals on Father’s Day was to take off his jersey and climb the stairs of Wells Fargo Center to hand his jersey to his dad, Rayford Young Sr.
“I wanted to come out here and win not only for my teammates but for my dad,” said Young in his postgame interview.
After a 5-for-23 shooting performance in the biggest game of his career, including 2-for-11 from three, Young had the confidence to take a 29-foot three-pointer to give the Hawks a six-point lead with just 2:31 remaining in the game. Young ended his night with 21 points and 10 assists in Atlanta’s 103-96 victory over the Sixers.
“We’re happy we made it to the Eastern Conference Finals, but we’re not satisfied,” said Young.
Young’s emergence in these playoffs has been incredible but he wasn’t the sole reason they won this game seven. The Hawks rode Kevin Huerter’s 27-point performance until the end where he iced the game with three free throws. His performance wasn’t expected to say the least, but Huerter has become an integral part of Atlanta’s offense in the absence of De’Andre Hunter.
John Collins had 14 points and 16 rebounds in the win and was seen wearing a t-shirt of him dunking on Embiid from their Game 6 loss.
The Sixers have now been eliminated in the second round of the playoffs for the third time in the last four years. Even with Embiid’s 31 points in Game 7 on a torn meniscus, Philadelphia never met the expectations that most people had for them entering this series. Daryl Morey and the Sixers front office will have major questions to answer this offseason, including the future of Ben Simmons.
When Doc Rivers was asked if Simmons could still be a point guard for a championship team, he said he didn’t know and didn’t have an answer.
Simmons took just four shot attempts in the game and passed up a wide-open dunk to cut Atlanta’s lead to just one point. Instead, his pass resulted in two free throws for Matisse Thybulle.
“I’ll be honest. I thought the turning point was when we, I don’t know how to say it, is when we had an open shot and we made one free throw,” said Embiid.
The Hawks will now meet former coach Mike Budenholzer in the Eastern Conference Finals, the man who ran away from the Hawks’ rebuild in 2018. The Bucks and Hawks Eastern Conference Finals series will begin on Wednesday.
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