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Peachtree Hoops: Hawks reserves can’t quite edge Timberwolves, 109-106

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NBA: Atlanta Hawks at Minnesota Timberwolves
Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

A good fight shown by the young Hawks.

The Hawks and Timberwolves faced off in the second to last regular season game for each side this season. Atlanta welcomed back the Trae Young-Dejounte Murray backcourt for only the second time since the All-Star Break.

It was a hot start for both teams offensively, as Karl-Anthony Towns was looking to hit the ground running in his first game after a long layoff for Minnesota. Atlanta took an early lead lead by the star backcourt in the early portion of the first quarter.

But once both teams inserted their respective bench units, the Timberwolves were able to claw back to even at 20-20 with three minutes left in the period.

Mouhamed Gueye got some early run in his second game back from injury woes, with this cut and reception from a Bruno Fernando pass for two.

And Young can always find rim runners in transition. Exhibit A:

After one quarter, the Hawks led 27-25 behind eight points from Trae Young.

The next quarter started strong as well, with Atlanta building a small lead. De’Andre Hunter was a part of that mini surge, with a nice drive below.

But Minnesota responded and built a 42-32 lead after some careless play from the Hawks. From there, Atlanta chased the game, but it was clear that they’d have their hands full against one of the best teams in the NBA.

Atlanta could never quite slice into the margin by halftime, and as a result trailed 56-47 at the break. Bogdan Bogdanovic led the way with 10 points to this point.

After half, it was more of the same with the Timberwolves capitalizing on every Hawks mistake. Atlanta couldn’t get much going as Minnesota continued to plug along and pad their lead.

These two threes were critical towards keeping the Hawks within arms length.

But later, the Hawks came alive and drained threes in succession to make it a game again. They put together a 13-0 run and a 20-4 run to close the quarter and put a scare in the Timberwolves.

After 36 minutes, the Hawks were improbably tied with the Timberwolves 80-80.

Atlanta came out to play in the fourth quarter with a fire still underneath them. But at the first timeout, it was clear that the Hawks would not treat this game as a must win. Kobe Bufkin replaced Trae Young at the timeout and Vit Krejci later came in — their first appearances of the game for the duo.

Despite the white flag seemingly been raised, the Hawks fought and even took the lead with under five minutes left in the contest. The Bruno Fernando-Mouhamed Gueye frontcourt were doing their best to contend with an All-Star big man duo across from them.

Vit Krejci did his best to will the Hawks toward victory.

Kobe Bufkin also contributed in that regard.

But a big turnaround Anthony Edwards jumper put the Timberwolves up 105-102 with 49.5 seconds left to play. It was looking like the team with their first stringers out there would pull out the victory.

After a Krejci turnover, the Hawks turned Anthony Edwards over for a runout score to bring the deficit to just one point with the shot clock now turned off.

But Minnesota hit just enough free throws and got just enough stops to put away the young reserves of Atlanta in this one, 109-106.

Trae Young scored 19 points to go along with seven assists in just 27 minutes of play. The Hawks will conclude their season in Indiana on Sunday.

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