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NBA highlights on April 15: 'Ice Trae' burns Cavs for Hawks to reach playoffs
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Trae Young (#11) of the Atlanta Hawks penetrates in the NBA Eastern Conference play-in tournament game against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S., April 15, 2022. /CFP

Trae Young (#11) of the Atlanta Hawks penetrates in the NBA Eastern Conference play-in tournament game against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S., April 15, 2022. /CFP

The Atlanta Hawks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 107-101 in the NBA Eastern Conference play-in tournament game at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland on Friday to make the playoffs as the eighth-seeded team.

The Hawks will challenge the East leader Miami Heat in the first round from Game 1 at FTX Arena on Sunday.

The Cavaliers became the latest victim of "Trae Young moments." Young first shook his shoulders to celebrate after making a long 3-pointer in the third quarter. When the game was over, he waved goodbye to Cavaliers fans at home.

Trae Young (#11) of the Atlanta Hawks shoots in the NBA Eastern Conference play-in tournament game against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S., April 15, 2022. /CFP

Trae Young (#11) of the Atlanta Hawks shoots in the NBA Eastern Conference play-in tournament game against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S., April 15, 2022. /CFP

The above sarcastic behaviors were all built on Young's remarkable performance of scoring 38 points and nine assists. He had 16 points in both the third and fourth quarters. After Clint Capela quit Friday's game because of a knee injury, Young shouldered more offensive duties. With 32 points and five assists in the second half, his scoring contributions were bigger than those of the whole Cavaliers team during the same period.

"Early in the game, they were making some reads and making some switches, and I was trying to get my teammates involved," Young said. "I missed a couple shots, but I needed to stay aggressive, and that's all I did in the second half."

"Trae has a great deal of confidence in his game, his ability and he continued to believe," Hawks head coach Nate McMillan said. "I didn't see any panic in his play. He came out in the second half [and] remained aggressive. Those shots started to fall, the same shots that he was taking the first half, they started to fall in the second half."

Jarrett Allen (#31) of the Cleveland Cavaliers dunks in the NBA Eastern Conference play-in tournament game against the Atlanta Hawks at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S., April 15, 2022. /CFP

Jarrett Allen (#31) of the Cleveland Cavaliers dunks in the NBA Eastern Conference play-in tournament game against the Atlanta Hawks at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S., April 15, 2022. /CFP

Jarret Allen returned for the Cavaliers in Friday's game carrying a fractured middle finger in his left hand. He shot 4-of-4, all under the rim, to score 11 points, three rebounds and one block in over 35 minutes. If Darius Garland and Caris LeVert could feed him more, the Cavaliers might not have to suffer the offensive slump in the second half.

The Cavaliers led by as much as 14 points at home on Friday night but still lost this "win-or-go-home" game. It was the team's 18th time this season to waste 10+points lead, the most of the league. Coach J.B. Bickerstaff had some very interesting arrangements, like putting three big men, Allen, Evan Mobley and Lauri Markkanen in the starting lineup and having 2.13-meter-tall Markkanen defend Young in some of the possessions in Friday's game.

Darius Garland (R) of the Cleveland Cavaliers shoots a reverse layup in the NBA Eastern Conference play-in tournament game against the Atlanta Hawks at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S., April 15, 2022. /CFP

Darius Garland (R) of the Cleveland Cavaliers shoots a reverse layup in the NBA Eastern Conference play-in tournament game against the Atlanta Hawks at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S., April 15, 2022. /CFP

However, the Cavaliers also have a lot problems to fix. For example, they are average in rebounding, both offensively and defensively, despite such a height advantage in front court; they didn't have a go-to guy for clutch time so Garland had to do more he could handle; Mobley is smart and mature, but he has to put on more muscles and learn to be more productive on offense.

Despite the above problems, the Cavaliers have made it so far under the leadership of a group of rookies. They were top four in the East before Allen's injury. That means even a little growth by everyone could lead to huge improvement for the team.

Brandon Ingram (#14) of the New Orleans Pelicans dunks in the NBA Western Conference play-in tournament game against the Los Angeles Clippers at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California, U.S., April 15, 2022. /CFP

Brandon Ingram (#14) of the New Orleans Pelicans dunks in the NBA Western Conference play-in tournament game against the Los Angeles Clippers at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California, U.S., April 15, 2022. /CFP

'Shorthanded' is the Clippers' second name this season

The New Orleans Pelicans defeated the Los Angeles Clippers 105-101 in the NBA Western Conference play-in tournament game at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Friday, becoming the last team to reach the playoffs this season.

The Pelicans will challenge the Phoenix Suns in the first round from Game 1 at Footprint Center on Sunday.

Brandon Ingram, the second-overall selection in the 2016 NBA Draft, shot 14-for-21 to score 30 points, six rebounds and six assists for his first playoff qualification in career. He only missed one of nine field goals (FGs) in the first quarter to get 16 points. Though he slowed down a bit in the second half, Ingram still shot 3-of-3 in the fourth quarter to contribute seven points for the Pelicans to win.

Brandon Ingram (#14) of the New Orleans Pelicans shoots in the NBA Western Conference play-in tournament game against the Los Angeles Clippers at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California, U.S., April 15, 2022. /CFP

Brandon Ingram (#14) of the New Orleans Pelicans shoots in the NBA Western Conference play-in tournament game against the Los Angeles Clippers at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California, U.S., April 15, 2022. /CFP

"Brandon Ingram is the truth." Pelicans head coach Willie Green said. "He just brought it. He had that look in his eye from the time we got on the plane. Shootaround, he's been locked in. He has been waiting for this moment, for this type of moment."

Larry Nance also played a significant role for the Pelicans in Friday's game with a double-double of 14 points and 16 rebounds, including seven on the offensive glass. He was a dynamo in the paint, affected his teammates with energy and created more scoring chances for his team.

"Larry was a monster," Green said. "We kind of figured it was going to be a Larry game, the way they play. Ty Lue's adjustments was to go small and Larry has the ability to guard a number of perimeter guys. He's big, he's strong, he can rebound the ball. We don't win that game without his effort."

Larry Nance (C) of the New Orleans Pelicans dunks in the NBA Western Conference play-in tournament game against the Los Angeles Clippers at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California, U.S., April 15, 2022. /CFP

Larry Nance (C) of the New Orleans Pelicans dunks in the NBA Western Conference play-in tournament game against the Los Angeles Clippers at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California, U.S., April 15, 2022. /CFP

The Clippers and coach Tyronn Lue did everything they could and fought until the last minute, without their star duo of Kawhi Leonard, who missed the whole season due to injury, and Paul George, because of health and safety protocols.

Having watched his team trail 56-46 in the first half, Lue decided to go with the small-ball squad from the third quarter. The Clippers' two centers, Ivica Zubac and Isaiah Hartenstein didn't appear on the court for even one second in the second half.

With more proper size and faster rotation, the Clippers froze the Pelicans' offense in the third quarter and exploited the opponents' five turnovers well to launch a 38-18 drive in this quarter.

Marcus Morris (R) of the Los Angeles Clippers and Jonas Valanciunas of the New Orleans Pelicans tussle with each other for a rebound in the game NBA Western Conference play-in tournament game at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California, U.S., April 15, 2022. /CFP

Marcus Morris (R) of the Los Angeles Clippers and Jonas Valanciunas of the New Orleans Pelicans tussle with each other for a rebound in the game NBA Western Conference play-in tournament game at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California, U.S., April 15, 2022. /CFP

However, the key members of the Clippers this season, Reggie Jackson, Marcus Morris, Terance Mann and Nicolas Batum all played for a longer time than they used to in the previous seasons and shouldered much bigger roles. Having done so for the whole season, they were already on the edge of being worn out.

The Clippers' players' bodies reacted to their weariness in the fourth quarter. Most of their shots were short; they couldn't stop Nance from dominating the rebounds; they were not fast enough to deflect open 3-pointers in switching defense.

Despite the failure to make playoffs, Lue is still confident in his franchise for the next season. "We get our main guys back. I mean, we can be dangerous. Health is part of it. We got to stay healthy, continue to work," he said. "When you get Kawhi back, top-five player, PG, a perennial All-Star, your team changes tremendously. Guys who have taken on bigger roles this year who have never been in this position before, they can kind of fall back into their original roles. We could be very different with those two guys back and healthy ... We can be special."

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