Trae Young lifts Hawks past Cavaliers in play-in game

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Trae Young scored 32 of his 38 points in the second half and the Atlanta Hawks overcame losing center Clint Capela to a knee injury to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 107-101 in the play-in Friday night and earn the Eastern Conference’s No. 8 playoff seed.

Young started slowly for the second straight game, but "Ice Trae," as he fancies himself, heated up when it mattered most.

The All-Star guard scored 16 points in the third quarter to rally the Hawks from a 10-point halftime deficit, and added another 16 in the fourth to finish off the Cavs, whose inexperience showed throughout the second half.

Bogdan Bogdanovic added 19 points for Atlanta, which will play No. 1 seed Miami in the first round. Game 1 is Sunday in South Florida.

The Hawks, who made it to the conference finals a year ago, might have to go forward without Capela. The 6-foot-10 center hyperextended his right knee late in the first half, had to be helped from the floor and couldn’t return.

Lauri Markkanen scored 26 and Darius Garland 21 for the young Cavaliers, whose unexpected season fell just shy of a playoff berth.

Cleveland hasn’t been to the playoffs since 2018, and the Cavs haven’t been to the postseason without LeBron James on their roster since 1998.

As if to add insult to injury, James tweeted an emoji of an ice cube in the closing seconds — a nod to Young — as the Hawks were ending Cleveland’s season.

Lifted by a rowdy, towel-waving crowd in Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, the Cavs were in position to advance and played well in long stretches. However, Cleveland’s offense bogged down in the third quarter, and the Cavs had no answer defensively for Young.

As the final seconds ticked off, Young waved goodbye as the Cleveland crowd thinned out and headed to the exits.

Those who stayed saluted the Cavs, who weren’t expected to get this far after winning just 22 games last season. While they’ve been relegated to lottery picks and losing since James left after a four-year run to the NBA Finals four years ago, the future in Cleveland is bright.

With the season on the line, Cleveland got a huge emotional and defensive lift by the return of All-Star center Jarrett Allen, who had missed the previous 19 games with a broken finger on his left hand. Allen finished with 11 points.

Reporting by the Associated Press.