TRAE YOUNG SCORED 11 of his 36 points in the final two minutes Saturday as the Atlanta Hawks withstood a career-high 55 points from Brooklyn star Kevin Durant in a 122-115 NBA victory over the Nets.
The Hawks grabbed their fifth straight win to move into eighth place in the Eastern Conference, a game ahead of the Nets and the Charlotte Hornets, who were routed 144-114 by the Philadelphia 76ers earlier in the day.
All three are jockeying for position in the play-in tournament, in which the teams place seventh to 10th in each conference will battle for the final two berths in the playoffs proper.
The Nets’ second straight defeat ended the star-studded Brooklyn team’s hopes of escaping the play-in and earning one of the top six seeds that will advance directly to the playoffs.
Kyrie Irving scored 31 points, but with Goran Dragic sidelined by Covid concerns, Bruce Brown out with flu and Seth Curry a late scratch with a left ankle injury, no other Nets player managed to score in double figures.
“We didn’t really play a good ball game,” Nets coach Steve Nash said. “I can’t sugarcoat it. “We didn’t play a great game and not enough guys played well.”
Durant did all he could, but even after his 19 third-quarter points the Nets went into the final period trailing by seven.
His eight three-pointers, on 10 attempts, were also a career-high and he surpassed his previous career high of 54 points, set when he was with Oklahoma City in 2014.
Atlanta, meanwhile, had four players score in double figures. In addition to Young, who added 10 rebounds, De’Andre Hunter and Lou Williams scored 15 points apiece and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot added 11 as the Hawks won their fifth straight game.
Elsewhere in the East, the Miami Heat tightened their hold on first place with a 127-109 victory over the Chicago Bulls.
Jimmy Butler scored 22 points and Kyle Lowry added 19 for the Heat, who have followed a four-game skid with a three-game winning streak.
In Philadelphia, Joel Embiid scored 29 points as the 76ers halted their three-game losing streak with an emphatic 144-114 rout of the Charlotte Hornets.
The Sixers had slumped to defeats against the Phoenix Suns, Milwaukee Bucks and lowly Detroit Pistons heading into Saturday’s early home game at the Wells Fargo Center.
But Embiid and a balanced Sixers offense were in no mood to concede a fourth straight loss against a Charlotte team in 10th place in the Eastern Conference.
The Sixers held a narrow 58-53 lead at half-time but pulled away with a 45-point third-quarter performance before pouring in 41 points in the fourth quarter to seal a crushing win.
Embiid finished with 29 points, 14 rebounds and six assists while Tobias Harris had 23 points, five rebounds and four assists.
“That was a great game for us, coming back off a disappointing loss in Detroit,” the Sixers’ Harris said afterwards. ”Just being able to push the pace today and get going was big for us.”
The Sixers can clinch a playoff place on Sunday with a win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, who defeated the already-eliminated New York Knicks 119-101.
The @warriors clinch a spot in the #NBAPlayoffs presented by Google Pixel!
— NBA (@NBA) April 3, 2022
Teams ranked 7-10 will compete in the Play-In Tournament to secure the final two playoff spots for each conference.https://t.co/xhCSbzNSi7 pic.twitter.com/pcL6BMc9XM
In the West, the Golden State Warriors clinched their first NBA playoff berth since 2019 with a dramatic 111-107 come-from-behind victory over the Utah Jazz.
Trailing by as many as 21 points in the first quarter and by 16 early in the fourth quarter, the Warriors outscored the Jazz 24-4 over the final eight minutes.
Klay Thompson drained four three-pointers in an 18-0 run that put the Warriors ahead for good culminating in Jordan Poole’s three-pointer with 3:33 remaining that gave them a 105-103 lead.
Thompson finished with 36 points and Poole added 31 for the Warriors, who reached the NBA Finals in five straight seasons up to 2019, winning three titles, before missing out on the playoffs in the 2020 and 2021.
Terrible Game. Waste of time for everyone.
A change to the rules would eliminate blanket poop football.
Leinster is a waste of time for the dubs , they only get a proper game when it comes to the all Ireland quarters / semi finals …
Agreed but Dublin were very casual today. Leinster does Dublin no good. They develop bad habits when the games are not competitive. Bad decision making, bad wides and some very sloppy passes. Furthermore, it seems nobody is allowed tackle McCauley hard anymore. Anytime MDMA gets a hard tackle he reacts like a petulant child. His lack of discipline could cost Dublin in a more competitive match further down the line. McCauley is a fine player but he needs to check his ego ASAP.
Apart from his discipline he was the worst Dublin player in the first half, surprised he came back out at HT
It’s a waste of time for every team involved not just dublin.
Something really wrong when a team is winning their provincial Championship by an aggregate score of +59 points in 3 games.
10 Leinster titles in 11 years. It’s stroll in the (Croke) Park every single year.
Current system not doing anyone any good.
Inter-county game dying a death outside the capital. More and more players dropping out of county panels to take the summer off. Increasingly not worth it with the near professional commitment and training levels.
GAA won’t change with all the money they make off Dublin’s back. They’ll regret it when it’s too late.
The Leinster final is always going to be in Croke Park, and in fairness would it really make any difference if Dublin were playing away? I’d love to travel to away matches like in hurling but the Leinster Council aren’t going to move us anytime soon.
Emigration has a lot to do with some of the more rural counties’ lack of competitiveness, I feel. Kildare for example have lost three or four of their brightest young prospects to the likes of AFL or the States. It probably affects Dublin to a lesser extent and it’s not something the GAA can easily address.
As for Championship structures, Jim McGuinness came up with a brilliant new approach, integrating the All-Ireland series, provincial championships and the league, thereby making all three competitions relevant. Hard to see it even being debated in Congress though.
The situation regarding adult club football and hurling is a far bigger danger to the Association than the Dubs’ success, soccer and rugby combined, IMO. Who wants to hang around for three months in summer without being able to book holidays or having any matches? Having a reliable fixture calendar for club players (who make up 95% of the GAA’s membership) should be a major priority.
2_13and 16wides it’s true Dublin cannot play against a blanket.
Poor match, Dublin will be caught wanting when they play a proper team .
What a waste of GAA development money 2/3.of all the development money
going to Dublin and they have to be within 25 yards of goal to score . Dublin’s
strength is their home venue .
Westmeath had 14 men in their own 45 for 65 minutes with no effort to attack and Dublin still win by 12! Your right if they played at Parnell park they would have been better
yes it was a very poor match it’s hard to have a game when one team tried and the other tries to keep the score down but that is the result of the cancer that has set in unfortunatelythanks mickle harte you did the game a great service.
idiot
I presume your not referring to me if I am how am I an idiot please explain
If you think a 13 point win against a blanket defence is a negative you are an idiot
The biggest shock is that 48000 paid to watch a training session masquerading as a match. There were 4 qualifiers yesterday a 2 point margin a 23 point margin a 9 point margin and a 19 point margin. That paints a picture of what state the game is in. But true GAA people won’t pull their heads out of their arses long enough to see there’s a problem.
Sorry @John but thats an insult to the many supporters around the country that follow their team through thick and thin. Does one not simply bother turning up because their team is not as good as their opponent……..or the other way around. Your talking through your arse
As I said head right up your arse. I’ve no problem supporting a team through thick n thin but when it’s the same teams every single year in the thin category it wears you down. There’s only so many times you can watch a team getting slaughtered. People like you think us counties who’s teams are canon fodder year after year should be so grateful for the experience. Well f**k that.
put the Dubs into Ulster !
anto ulster is the same curcus different clowns
My point been is that Ulster is only province where you can say there is 3/4 teams that will win it. Connacht is nearly always Mayo for the last few years, Munster is either Cork or Kerry and in Leinster there is no one within an asses roar of Dublin I think they would be better off ditching the current provincial format and have a Champions league style league format that starts in March and runs to September, that ways every team is guarenteed 5/6 championship matches, home and away. The top 2 in every group ho through yo quaternary finals. Also this would mean the Dubs would have to travel for championship games and spread the weslth5
Donegal fifth final In a row very monaghan fourth out of five staggering competition up there alright.
Was Armagh and Tyrone, now Donegal and Monaghan. No walkovers. New challengers next year.
If you want to make comparisons look to Munster – Cork v Kerry forever.
Instead of putting counties who are too good for one province into another, should just scrap the provincial championship!
not making comparison Peter but the whole competitive ulster championship is a nonsense as you say yourself replace two teams with two other.
But that’s because most Munster counties are hotbeds of hurling- in which they have an extremely competitive provincial championship. You could make the same argument about Ulster- in which there’s a hurling championship dominated by one team, but the football championship is much harder to dominate.
What a game. What a weekend for Dublin! Come on you boys in blue!!!
what a game me arse
your right Lenny only one team trying not to play. instead of two no brawls (ulster intensity) and no one half killed behind a kids band
The Dubs win the Leinster title and you still manage to bring Ulster teams into it Paul. Obsessed.
It was a desperate game Sean
not obsessed Joe I said long ago ulster killed Gaelic football with the ploy of bad teams playing spoiling football. it’s time for the gaa to take action against this disease thank god the big teams are still playing the right way.
Dublin are the most likeable Dublin team in a while. Great football and no preening or posturing. Such a same to hear a portion of the crowd booing Westmeath wides etc.
These players deserve as much respect as the Dublin players.
Disappointed with Westmeath today… Such a same they decided to play the blanket defence. Shame on Donegal for ruining the game…
“Shame”
Yeah you are right, Westmeath should have played more openly, left 6 men up front and got beat by 25 points. Spirit of the game and all that….
Shame on Donegal????
Do your research, this was around before Jim McGuinness figured out how to use it right. Also, remember, the only puke football game was the semi in 2011 against Dublin. After that attack was mixed with defence. Look at the 2014 semi against Dublin. And the games in between. Donegal perfected both parts of the game. Teams like westmeath and derry etc play blanket defence with no ability to attack. That’s the difference and that’s why you should have a proper look at things rather than incorrectly taking a cheap shot at Donegal. It’s getting old at this stage. And, while I’m at it, where does it say in the rules a particular style of play is required? Nowhere, that’s where. Stupid arguements everywhere about this. If westmeath employed some of the proposed rule changes people on here claim will fix GAA forever, they’d have been hockeyed by about 30 points by Dublin today.
I would of enjoyed that more anyway….
You’d have preferred to watch a non-competitive 30 point mauling ?
Tyrone ruined it Donegal took it to a new level sadly.
See Paul, that’s the common misconception. They may well have but Donegal games don’t rememble what we saw this afternoon. Donegal perfected the almost perfect defensive system and supplemented it by devastating counter attacking. If people remembered all of that there’d be less of the short-sighted comments about Donegal ruining football. Donegal should be appreciated for how they actually play the game. They inspired teams like Derry etc who can’t do it right and now get the blame for their shortcomings. That annoys me.
* …with devastating…..
I wouldn’t bother with Paul Tom. He’s staunchly anti ulster football so regardless of how effective Donegals counter attacking football is you’ll hear no praise from him. He doesn’t understand what competitive means as he’s proved time and time again. You don’t have to like the style of football but anyone who thinks it’s not competitive and that nearly every game isn’t up for grabs hasn’t a clue about sport in general.
so everyone outside ulster who looks on that style of football with discust are all suffering a misconception tom.
But Donegal have a healthy sprinkling of players who would get into any team in the country- thinking of Mark McHugh and Colm McFadden (on 2012 form), Neil Gallagher, Frank McGlynn, Michael Murphy, Paddy McBrearty, the McGees. They have a deadly full-forward line, so it makes sense to play that way, leaving lots of space for their inside forwards and support runners.
The likes of Derry, Cavan, Westmeath just don’t have the same players to execute a counter-attacking system like Donegal did. They won’t win an All-Ireland, but they generally become much more competitive under such a system, as goals are very hard to come by against massed defences. So they will continue to play defensively until there are either rule changes or someone figures out how to defeat it (as Eamon Fitzmaurice did last September).
I see that there’s a challenge game coming up under the Brolly rules (having a minimum/maximum number of players in certain parts of the field at all times) which will be interesting to observe.
The #GAA might eventually realise that allowing teams to empty the opposition half to defend might not be good for the game. A simple rule like a ‘A team must maintain at least 4 (or maybe even 6) players in the opposition half at all times. It could be policed by linesmen or a ref in the sky with radio communication to referee!
As much as how bad that looked, it would have looked a hell of a lot worse if those rules were introduced. The problem is with Leinster not the game itself.
Im just delighted to see the Dubs lift the trophy again. There are obvious problems in the provincial set up but you cant blame Dublin.
Dublin have thousands more playing at every level. The smaller counties are nearly done with GAA. Only teams who concentrate on either football or hurling are serious contenders for All Irelands- your Donegals KK’s etc.
As for Westmeath’s tactics and Donegals puke- the solution:
1. The 6 forwards cannot enter their own half. 2 Midfielders can roam as the see fit.
2. No. hand passes limited to 1 per move.
According to the last GAA annual report there are 3 counties with higher participation rates than Dublin
@Wayne really? Wouldn’t have thought that. They have great facilities etc on top of numbers.
A change to the rules is painfully needed.
Kildare, and cork have more participants can’t remember the other. Remember a large part of Dublin’s population is from other counties.
Hep Dublin are winning we need to change the rules
dougal turkeys don’t vote for Christmas Dublin and Kerry are thegaa in football the rest are a sideshow.
Steady lads- i’m not having a go at Dublin, i prefer watching them and Kerry than any other teams.
It’s football that loses as the old saying goes. Dublin and other proper footballing teams would clean up with Doogle Rules !
was not worth the entrance money.
A farce as is the whole GAA football game, same old merry go round every year. Skill? None. Only kids could be exited by such a pathetic sight as today. As for adults dressed in football shirts. Jesus!
Imagine that! Adults in football shirts at a football game.. Whatever next! Obviously none of your fellow Fulham Supporters (yes people, you read that right, he sports Fulham!) wear football shirts?!
Touché!
David put firmly back in his box
Corporate box?
If Meath were der they would of won it
But they weren’t, as Westmeath made history in finally beating them. ;) Still a proud Westmeath fan!