PHILADELPHIA - Trae Young ran off the court clapping and yapping toward the few Atlanta Hawks fans who braved the Wells Fargo Center crowd and stuck around to the very end of Wednesday night's game against the Philadelphia 76ers.
The 22-year-old star point guard and his teammates had already rewarded them with a comeback victory for the ages.
"I was just showing love to the ATL fans that showed up," Young said, "and we're going to need them to show up Friday for us."
Oh yes, there will be a Game 6 in this Eastern Conference semifinal series, with the upstart Hawks - not Philadelphia star Joel Embiid and the top-seeded Sixers - playing for a spot in the next round.
"If you don't believe, you've got to believe now," Hawks interim coach Nate McMillan said.
How could they not? Atlanta fans can roll off a lengthy list of infamous collapses in the Georgia capital's collective sports history, but here was a comeback to remember.
Young was fouled on a 3-point attempt and hit all three free throws with 1:26 left to cap a 26-point rally and send fifth-seeded Atlanta on its way to a 109-106 victory Wednesday night in Game 5.
The Hawks won in Philadelphia for the second time in the series and can advance to the Eastern championship series for the first time since 2015 with a victory Friday night at State Farm Arena.
"We knew what we had to do, and we had to do it in a hurry," McMillan said. "No quit."
Young scored 39 points and added to his highlight reel during a postseason when he has become a breakout star.
"We keep fighting no matter what the score is. I'm proud of this team," Young said. "We have confidence in each other."
Embiid scored 17 points in an 8-for-8 first quarter and seemingly had the Sixers on their way toward a romp with a 26-point lead in the first half. They still led 87-69 at the end of the third quarter before they collapsed.
Consider:
- Embiid scored 39 points and Seth Curry had 36, and they were the only two Sixers to make a field goal in the second half.
- The Hawks outscored them 40-19 in the fourth on 16-of-22 shooting.
- The Sixers still had a 97.5% chance of winning with 4:23 remaining.
- Philadelphia committed 10 of its 15 turnovers in the second half.
"We got too comfortable," guard Ben Simmons said. "We didn't play the way we should be playing."
Danilo Gallinari, Lou Williams and Young opened the fourth on a huge run against the Sixers' second unit and kept attacking after coach Doc Rivers was forced to put the starters in and save the lead.
Gallinari hit a 3 that cut the hosts' lead to 87-76, and Embiid sprang from his cooldown seat behind the basket and ran to the scorer's table to check back into the game. He instantly scored and pushed the lead to 13 again.
Didn't matter.
The big shots kept coming for the Hawks - Williams buried a 3 that made it an 11-point game - and Young kept hitting his floaters and his free throws. Williams and Young each scored 13 points in the fourth.
"It'll be one of those things where I'll look back when he's a Hall of Famer, he's an established superstar in this league, and I can say I was part of that process and I worked with this gentleman," said the 34-year-old Williams, a former Atlanta-area high school standout who began his NBA career with the Sixers and is in his second stint with the Hawks.
Simmons, along with Embiid a cornerstone for the Sixers, missed free throw after free throw much as he has for most of the postseason that sped up Atlanta's comeback.
Young's floater brought the visitors within two, and then he leaned into a 3-pointer and was fouled by Matisse Thybulle. Young, taunted all series by Sixers fans, calmly stepped to the line and buried all three shots. And so it was, 105-104 Hawks.
The Hawks led by 26 points in a victory in the opener in Philadelphia and won Game 4 at home Monday.
Gallinari scored 16 points, Williams had 15 and John Collins had 19 with 11 rebounds. Atlanta was 22-for-28 on free throws.
"We found a hot hand in Lou and found a rotation that works and stayed with it," McMillan said. "They showed their true character."
Simmons was 4-for-14 from the foul line, and even Embiid missed two big ones down the stretch. Simmons missed two with the Sixers up 104-96, and the Hawks came right down and scored. He is 22-for-66 (33%) from the line in the playoffs.
"When Ben makes them, we get to leave him in," Rivers said. "When he doesn't, we can't. That's just the way it is."
Simmons said his free throw woes are "mental."
Embiid is basically playing on one good leg as he deals with torn cartilage in his right knee. The injury got the best of him in Game 4. He couldn't get any lift in his shots - notable in a blown layup late that should have won the game - and his 0-fer in the second half left Philly wondering how hard he could go in Game 5.
He went hard, but it wasn't enough - and the Sixers will need to win Friday if they want to play at home again.
"We'll be back here for Game 7," Rivers said. "I believe that."