Trae Young: “We qualified in a big way and showed our character”

The franchise base of the Atlanta
Hawks, which this Sunday they won at home by 96-103 to the Philadelphia Sixers in the decisive seventh game and gave the big surprise in the semifinals of the Eastern Conference, he praised the way the whole team responded.

We qualified in a big way, as a team that always showed character on the field, even when we lost, “said Young, who finished with a double-double of 21 points, including the decisive triple, and 10 assists.” We always believed in what we could do in every game and we fight to the end“.

Precisely the fighting spirit that the Atlanta team always maintained was what highlighted Hawks interim coach Nate McMillan, who came to the team at the beginning of the season when they had a negative record and no one was betting on them or even reaching the playoffs.

“I felt like they were made for this moment tonight to win this game,” McMillan said. “Now we must think about the finals that await us against the Milwaukee Bucks, another team that arrives as a favorite “.

Atlanta was 0-9 in its seventh playoff games so far on the road.

But the Hawks ignored their ignominious history and got one in Philadelphia, where they already won in the first and fifth and eliminated the stars of the Sixers, Cameroonian center Joel Embiid and Australian point guard Ben Simmons, who They closed in false again with defeat another chapter more of the questioned reconstruction plan known as the Process.

The eaves Tobias Harris, who was once again the Sixers’ most consistent player with a double-double of 24 points and 14 rebounds, admitted that they were their own worst enemies.

We gave them life from the first game“Harris stressed.” It is a young and hungry team that fought every ball and that was the key to our defeat and elimination. “

For its part, Embiid, who played with problems in his right knee, reiterated that having been physically fit and the whole team united, he maintained his prediction that the team was to win everything in the NBA. Embiid had 31 points, 11 rebounds and eight turnovers playing with a torn meniscus in his right knee.

I still believe that if I was 100%If we were all together, “said Embiid, who finished with a double-double of 31 points and 11 rebounds, but also had eight turnovers.”I still think we had a chance to win it all “.

While the Sixers coach, Doc RiversIn his first year with the team, which he reached after being eliminated last season with the Los Angeles Clippers, also in the Western Conference semifinals against the Denver Nuggets, he acknowledged that they did not do things well on the field in the decisive moments and above all they did not get the key points.

“It’s very simple, If you do not score the easy shots and from the personnel line, in the end it is very difficult to get the victory“said Rivers.” Without taking any credit from the great game of the Hawks, whom I congratulate and wish them well, we were not up to the level of the team that needs to win. ”

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