ATLANTA -- Trae Young wanted to make a big impression in his first trip to the playoffs.
It's going just as he planned.
Shaking off an ugly spitting incident at Madison Square Garden, Young dazzled in the first home playoff game of his career, scoring 21 points and dishing out 14 assists to lead the Atlanta Hawks to a 105-94 victory over the New York Knicks in Game 3 of their opening-round NBA playoff series Friday night.
"I feel like I've prepared my whole life for these days, these moments," he said.
Spurred on by a raucous crowd of 15,743, by far the largest of the season in Atlanta, the Hawks pulled ahead 2-1 in the best-of-seven series. Game 4 is Sunday in Atlanta.
This one was tight through much of the first half, but the Hawks closed the second quarter on a Young-powered, 22-5 run that sent the arena into an uproar.
"He doesn't really have a weakness," interim coach Nate McMillan said. "He takes what the defense gives him. He does a good job finding the open man when the defense collapses in the paint. When they don't, he's attacking and finishing at the rim."
In Game 1, Young hit the winning basket to silence the crowd at Madison Square Garden's first playoff contest since 2013. He shined again during the spurt that essentially decided the most lopsided game of the series, having a hand in 18 of the 22 points.
Young scored five points himself, hitting a three and a step-back jumper, but spent most of his time scooting around the court, creating for teammates.
A lob pass to John Collins for a thunderous dunk. A pass to set up Collins for an open three. Another alley-oop to Clint Capela for a slam. A nifty pass to find Bogdan Bogdanovic all alone for a three. And, finally, one more dish to set up De'Andre Hunter's jumper beyond the arc.
"It feels great," Young said. "This is my first experience at home in the playoffs. I'm looking forward to having a lot more of these."
The Hawks led 58-44 at the half. The Knicks never got the margin below double figures over the final two quarters.
During Game 2 in New York, a Knicks fan spit on Young as he was inbounding the ball during the fourth quarter of a tight contest -- one of three incidents in a matter of hours at NBA arenas across the country, renewing calls for increased security and other measures to deal with unruly fans.
A total of five fans in New York, Philadelphia and Utah were banned from games for their misbehavior.
With Young spreading the wealth, the Hawks put their depth to good use. Seven players scored in double figures, including Collins with 14 points after he was held scoreless in Game 2 while dealing with foul trouble.
Meanwhile, Knicks All-Star Julius Randle had another tough night and was serenaded constantly with chants of "Overrated! Overrated! Overrated!"
"We just had one bad stretch in the second quarter," Randle said. "That was the difference in the game."
With the Hawks sagging on him in the lane and making every look a tough one, Randle was held to 14 points on 2-of-15 shooting. For the series, he has made just 13 of 54 from the field.
"We've got to adapt," Randle said, "and we will."
In his first start of the series, Derrick Rose led the Knicks with 30 points. He made 13 of 21 shots, but his teammates combined to make just 16 of 60.
"If you're not making plays with a shooting team like that, there's no way you're going to win the game," Rose said.
CELTICS 125, NETS 119
BOSTON -- Jayson Tatum scored a playoff career-high 50 points to carry Boston back into its series against Brooklyn during Game 3.
In an emotionally charged atmosphere with the fans booing and chanting at Kyrie Irving every time he was involved in something, Tatum displayed an array of drives, step-back jumpers and three-pointers to cut the Nets' lead to 2-1.
After scoring 50 points in Boston's play-in tournament victory, Tatum struggled in the two games in Brooklyn but steadied the Celtics in Game 3 after the Nets shot out to a 15-point lead.
It was Irving's first game in front of Boston's fans since he left via free agency in 2019.
James Harden led the Nets with 41 points, Kevin Durant had 39, and Irving finished with 16 on 6-of-17 shooting.
Game 4 of the best-of-seven series is set for Sunday night in Boston, where the Celtics will be allowed to have a near-capacity crowd in TD Garden when Massachusetts lifts the limits Saturday on crowd sizes due to the pandemic. It was limited to 25% on Friday.
Marcus Smart added 23 points for the Celtics, Tristan Thompson gave them a huge lift with 19 points and 13 rebounds, and Evan Fournier added 17 points. Kemba Walker had a rough night, scoring only 6 points on 3-of-14 shooting.
Irving was booed when he came out for warmups, during pregame introductions and each time he touched the ball, with those turning into loud cheers when he missed shots.
Brooklyn cut a 16-point, fourth-quarter deficit to five with just under a minute left, but Tatum nailed a step-back jumper from the top and Boston held on.
Tatum scored 11 points in the final 4:46 of the third, helping Boston turn a one-point deficit into a 96-84 lead entering the final quarter.
CLIPPERS 118, MAVERICKS 108
DALLAS -- Kawhi Leonard scored 36 points, Paul George added 29 and Los Angeles spoiled Luka Doncic's home playoff debut, beating Dallas to get back into the first-round playoff series.
The Clippers bounced back from two losses at home by withstanding a huge early surge by the Mavericks in front of their biggest crowd by far this season. Dallas takes a 2-1 series lead into Game 4 on Sunday night.
Doncic fed the frenzy of 17,705 fans, more than three times the size of any crowd in a season that started with an empty arena, by making his first four shots, three of them three-pointers, on his way to a playoff career-high 44 points as Dallas took a 30-11 lead.
LA's 14-0 run erased most of the deficit before the end of the first quarter, and George gave the Clippers their first lead on a three-pointer in the second quarter.
The Clippers ended a five-game postseason losing streak going back to last year's Florida playoff bubble, when LA beat Dallas in six games in the first round before blowing a 3-1 lead in the second round against Denver.
At a glance
FRIDAY’S GAMES
Atlanta 105, New York 94
Atlanta leads series 2-1.
Boston 125, Brooklyn 119
Brooklyn leads series 2-1.
LA Clippers 118, Dallas 108
Dallas leads series 2-1.
TODAY’S GAMES All times Central
Milwaukee at Miami, 12:30 p.m.
Milwaukee leads series 3-0.
Denver at Portland, 3 p.m.
Denver leads series 2-1.
Philadelphia at Washington, 6 p.m.
Philadelphia leads series 2-0.
Utah at Memphis, 8:30 p.m.
Series tied 1-1.