Trae Young had team highs of 36 points and eight assists on Saturday, helping the Atlanta Hawks post a 120-118 win over the visiting Indiana Pacers.
Caris LeVert added 26 points on 10-of-17 shooting off the bench, and Onyeka Okongwu collected 16 points and 16 rebounds. Dyson Daniels added 10 points and five steals as the Hawks won their second game against Indiana in three days.
Bennedict Mathurin led Indiana with 30 points off the bench, followed by starter Pascal Siakam’s 23. Aaron Nesmith and Myles turner scored 14 points apiece, and Andrew Nembhard posted 11 points and 12 assists. Thomas Bryant chipped in 10 points for the Pacers.
Trailing by 18 points after Daniels’ 3-pointer less than a minute into the third quarter, Indiana pulled within 75-65 after Mathurin’s jumper with 9:03 left.
Georges Niang’s three-point play gave Atlanta an 84-73 lead with just over four minutes left in the quarter. Indiana’s Ben Sheppard converted a three-point play about to pull the Pacers within six, and they trailed by seven going into the fourth quarter.
The Pacers cut the Hawks’ lead to one on Mathurin’s triple early in the period, but Okongwu’s layup and Caris LeVert’s trey pushed Atlanta’s advantage back to six.
Siakam answered with a personal 5-0 spree, before Bryant’s 3-pointer gave Indiana a 104-102 lead — its first since it was 2-0.
After Nesmith’s floater knotted the game at 111 with 4:17 left, Young’s basket and then his assist to LeVert gave the Hawks a four-point edge.
Nembhard and Okongwu then traded baskets, before a Nembhard layup cut Atlanta’s lead to 117-115 with 56 seconds left.
Turner split a pair of free throws with 19 seconds left, Young made two from at the other end, and Siakam elected to take a dunk with 1.3 seconds left, cutting Indiana’s deficit to one. Young then split a pair of free throws.
The Hawks finished the first quarter on a 13-2 run to take a 39-19 edge entering the second. Siakam buried a 3-pointer at the 7:38 mark of the second quarter, pulling the Pacers within nine.
–Field Level Media
