Trae Young and Mikal Bridges’ epic overtime battle ends with Hawks’ 147-145 win over Nets

On the eve of Thanksgiving, the Nets’ Mikal Bridges and the Hawks’ Trae Young both feasted in an instant-classic, back-and-forth overtime battle.

In the end, Young emerged as the holiday hero.

The 6-1 Young’s stepback jumper over 6-10 Nets center Nic Claxton with 18 seconds remaining in the extra period proved to be the game-winner in the Hawks’ 147-145 victory in Atlanta.

Young’s 19-foot shot put the Hawks up, 144-143, marking the biggest basket in a 43-point explosion by the two-time All-Star. It was enough to spoil a similarly dominant outing by Bridges, who tied his career-high with 45 points – including 25 after the third quarter.

Bridges scored 11 points in overtime. Young had 14. An exhilarating four-possession stretch during the final 1:11 saw one of them score each time down the floor, with the lead changing every time. There were 27 lead changes in the game.

“In basketball, there’s one winner and one loser,” Nets coach Jacque Vaughn said afterward. “That’s just part of it every night.”

The Nets had multiple chances to tie or win the game in overtime. With eight seconds remaining and Brooklyn down one point, Atlanta’s Onyeka Okongwu blocked Bridges’ driving lay-up attempt. Then, with 2.2 seconds to go and the Nets down two, a busted play led to an inbound pass to Lonnie Walker IV, who was far away from the basket and ultimately failed to get a shot off in time.

“Last possession was for Mikal,” Vaughn said. “Pretty good look. They switched the last screen that we had, which brought Lonnie to the basketball.”

Both teams, meanwhile, could have iced the game in regulation. Cam Johnson put the Nets ahead, 131-130, with 3.1 seconds left in the fourth quarter when he tipped in a missed lay-up by Bridges.

Young responded by drawing a foul on Spencer Dinwiddie, giving the Hawks star a chance to clinch the game with two free throws. But Young, an 89.7% free-throw shooter, missed the first before making the second, tying the score, 131-131. Atlanta began the game 20-for-20 from the free-throw line before Young’s miss.

Bridges led a balanced Brooklyn attack in which four starters finished with more than 20 points. Dinwiddie scored 26 to go with 12 assists, while Claxton added a season-best 22 points along with 11 rebounds.

Johnson, who missed seven games with a calf strain, scored a season-high 23 points and made a season-best five three-pointers. He did not play in overtime, however, with Vaughn saying afterward the sharpshooting forward began cramping at the end of regulation.

“He should be OK,” Vaughn said.

Bridges scored 14 fourth-quarter points. It was the fourth 40-point game of his career, with each coming after he was traded to the Nets in the February deal that sent Kevin Durant to Phoenix.

“We just had to keep fighting,” Bridges said. “That was everybody in the huddle. Coaches, players. We just got to keep going. There’s no quit. We just kept fighting, fighting, and almost had it.”

A night removed from a 157-152 loss to Indiana, the Hawks didn’t look like a team playing the second game of back-to-back. Young got off to a torrid start, beginning the game 6-of-6 from three-point range during a 19-point first quarter.

The Hawks scored 45 points in that opening period, marking the most points the Nets have surrendered in a first quarter this season. That included a 13-0 run by the Hawks, who scored 11 fastbreak points in the quarter.

Atlanta finished with 18 fastbreak points to the Nets’ nine. Both teams entered Wednesday ranked top five in transition scoring, though the Nets’ production in that category has dipped considerably without tempo-pushing point guard Ben Simmons (lower-back nerve impingement) in the lineup the last two weeks.

The Hawks entered Wednesday third in the NBA in scoring, averaging 122.4 points per game, but ranked 25th in allowing 120.9 points to opponents. The Nets – whose leading scorer, Cam Thomas (ankle sprain), missed his sixth straight game – took advantage of the Hawks’ porous defense, exceeding the 133 points they put up in Charlotte last month to set a new season-high.

It wasn’t enough to overcome Young, who caught fire for the second night in a row. He scored 38 points on 13-of-17 shooting in Tuesday’s game against the Pacers, which marked the seventh time in NBA history both teams scored at least 150 points in regulation.

Wednesday extended the Nets’ season-worst losing streak to three games. They fell to 6-8 and are now 3-1 against teams who entered with a losing record. The Hawks improved to 7-7.

“We’ve got a good little chemistry,” Bridges said. “We’ve just got to figure out, defensively, what team we’re trying to be and figure out what we can do to not give up 147 points.”

Next up for the Nets is a five-game homestand, which begins Saturday night when they host the Heat at Barclays Center.