ATLANTA — Al Horford and Jeff Teague scored 20 points apiece Wednesday night, helping the top-seeded Atlanta Hawks hold off the Brooklyn Nets 107-97 in an NBA playoff series that’s closer than anyone envisioned.
Shaking off a dislocated finger, Horford flew around the court in the fourth quarter when it looked like Brooklyn was on the verge of bouncing all the way back from an early 17-point deficit. In the final minute, Teague darted into the lane for a couple of baskets that sealed another hard-fought victory.
Atlanta leads 3-2 in the best-of-seven series, which heads back to Brooklyn for Game 6 on Friday night.
The Hawks can wrap it up, but the eighth-seeded Nets seem intent on taking it to the limit.
Reserve Alan Anderson led the Nets with 23 points. Jarrett Jack added 18 as the Brooklyn backups totally dominated Atlanta’s.
DeMarre Carroll scored 24 points, pushing the Hawks out to a big lead. But the Nets, as they did in each of the first two games in Atlanta, came back to make it close.
Jack carried Brooklyn down the stretch, hitting back-to-back 3-pointers and then driving for a floater in the lane that closed the gap to 90-89 with less than five minutes to go.
Teague responded with a 3, then stole it from Jack at the other end. The Hawks fought for an offensive rebound after missing underneath, leading to an easy bucket for Carroll off a pass for Horford.
Joe Johnson hit two more 3s to pull the Nets to 97-95 – their last gasp, it turned out.
Horford, who also had 15 rebounds, hit one from the top of the key, Jack walked trying to create something, and Teague scored on two straight drives – going right by Jack each time – to finally seal the victory.
TUESDAY’S GAME
SPURS 111, CLIPPERS 107: Tim Duncan scored 12 of his 21 points in the second half, and DeAndre Jordan was called for basket interference with 4.3 seconds left as San Antonio moved to the brink of the second round with a victory at Los Angeles in Game 5.
NOTES
KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR briefly returned to the hospital, two weeks after having quadruple coronary bypass surgery.
Abdul-Jabbar’s business manager, Deborah Morales, said it was just a precaution and the NBA career scoring leader was released after about an hour.
TIMBERWOLVES: Forward Andrew Wiggins will be named rookie of the year on Thursday, a person with knowledge of the announcement said.
Wiggins averaged 16.9 points and 4.6 rebounds while playing all 82 games as a rookie and averaged 39 minutes per game.
CLIPPERS: Coach Doc Rivers was fined $25,000 by the NBA for public criticism of the officiating after the Tuesday night Game 5 loss to San Antonio.
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