By: Buck Blanz

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

Wednesday night the Atlanta Hawks pulled off one of the greatest late-game comebacks in Hawks’ history.

The Hawks were losing by 24 with 2:10 left in the third quarter in a game where Atlanta seemed out of sorts from the beginning.

After being down by as many as 26 points in Wednesday night’s game 5, the Hawks would have to climb their way out of a hole that they dug early.

So, who would bet against the Hawks this time? The answer… almost everyone (including me), but fortunately most everyone was very wrong.

Throughout the first half of Game 5 in Philadelphia, the 76ers appeared to play their best basketball of the series. They were swinging the ball from wing to wing making the Hawks get set to play defense instead of leaking out in transition for easy buckets.

Philadelphia continued to shoot over 50% from the field. As they have throughout this series, it looked like the Hawks had no answer, especially for Embiid.

Joel Embiid began his night having his way with Clint Capela allowing him to taunt the crowd while playing very aggressive and physical. For a 76ers fan that is what you want, but then things began to turn in favor of Atlanta.

As many of the coaches and players on this resilient Hawks team have said before, ‘this team never quits’, and they don’t. As a fan of Atlanta sports, I must say that it is really nice being on the other side of an epic collapse throughout a game in which the 76ers should’ve won by 20, if not 30.

Throughout the first half of game 5 the Hawks could not buy a basket, nothing seemed to roll their way, until the 76ers seemed to take their foot off the gas then things changed.

After being down by 24 late in the third quarter, Atlanta quickly went on an 8-2 run to close out the third shifting the momentum in favor of the Hawks, which ultimately carried through the end of the game.

This Atlanta Hawks team has made it clear they have weapons; the trick is just finding what weapons are working on any given night.

Wednesday night those game-altering contributions came from the veterans Danilo Gallonari and the Atlanta native, Lou Williams. With each respectively adding 15 and 16 points while coupling with their veteran leadership in the playoffs is important for this young Hawks squad.

Along with the veteran contributions, it all begins with your star player and his approach. In this case, as we all know, that would be Trae Young.

Young’s ever-rising superstar status has been highlighted throughout this series and this playoff run.

Last night, Trae dropped a playoff career-high 39 points, while stealing game 5 from Philly in Philly giving Atlanta a 3-2 series lead with game 6 Friday in Atlanta.

Only one win separates the fifth seeded Atlanta Hawks from the Eastern Conference Finals.