ATLANTA (Reuters) - The Atlanta Hawks staved off the underdog Milwaukee Bucks to complete a nerve-wracking series triumph with a 95-74 Game Seven victory Sunday.
After avoiding elimination with a Game Six win on the road Friday, the Hawks followed up with a strong performance and advanced to the Eastern Conference semi-finals where they will meet the Orlando Magic.
"A lot of you guys wrote us off (after Game Five), and that's a shame because if you understand playoff basketball, anything is possible," Atlanta coach Mike Woodson told reporters.
"These guys didn't stop believing, and to bounce back like we did, and go to Milwaukee and win was unbelievable."
Jamal Crawford scored 22 points with six assists and Al Horford recorded 16 and 15 rebounds for the Hawks who used swarming defense and rebounding to overwhelm the Bucks.
Atlanta took control early, closing the first quarter with nine straight points before building a 20-point advantage in the second.
Milwaukee shot just 32 percent from the field and was out-rebounded 55-34 in their season-ending defeat.
Rookie point guard Brandon Jennings led the way with 15 for the Bucks who enjoyed their first postseason since 2006 and managed to put a scare into the third-seed Hawks despite playing without injured starting center Andrew Bogut.
After trailing 2-0 in the best-of-seven series, Milwaukee shocked Atlanta by winning three straight games to take a 3-2 series lead.
"We took them to seven games when everyone had it going only four or five games," Jennings said. "We didn't have our best player on the court and we still took this series the distance."
In the Western Conference, the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers opened their second-round series with a 104-99 victory over the Utah Jazz.
After an up-and-down first-round series, Kobe Bryant looked healthy and revitalized in scoring 31 points, including 13 in the fourth quarter to help the Lakers hold off the Jazz.
Utah trailed by 12 in the third then made a swift run and led by four with 4:09 to go, but Bryant ran off seven straight points to give Los Angeles the 1-0 best-of-seven advantage.
Pau Gasol added 25 points and 12 rebounds for the Lakers while Deron Williams had a team-high 24 points and eight assists for Utah.
(Writing by Jahmal Corner in Los Angeles, Editing by John Mehaffey)
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