Dejounte Murray Scores Career High 44 Points And Hits Game Winning Shot As Hawks Beat Boston 123-122 in Overtime
The Hawks were playing on the second night of a back-to-back and Boston was getting both Jrue Holiday and Derrick White back, making the Celtics 16.5-point favorites. Atlanta faced long odds to make this game competitive, but Dejounte Murray looked at that and decided to carry the Hawks to victory against the NBA's best team. Murray set his new career high and hit the game-winning shot in overtime to get an improbable win over the Celtics.
The Hawks are rolling right now and playing with a ton of confidence, despite their injuries. They extended the lead over the Brooklyn Nets tonight and moved to just being one game behind the Bulls for the No. 9 spot.
Let's recap another crazy night in Atlanta.
The Celtics got two starters back tonight with Jrue Holiday and Derrick White joining the lineup alongside Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, and Kristaps Porzingis.
Dejounte Murray was questionable with lower back soreness, but he was cleared to play. He started alongside Bogdan Bogdanovic, Vit Krejci, De'Andre Hunter, and Clint Capela.
In Monday's game, the Celtics had an excellent first quarter and had a 22-point lead over Atlanta, largely due to their excellent three-point shooting.
It was a completely different kind of first quarter tonight. Neither team could hit a three and were heavily reliant on getting points in the paint.
In the last matchup, Tatum, Brown, and Porzingis all were in double digits in the first quarter and Porzingis repeated that tonight. He got off to a great start for Boston with 12 first-quarter points and was finding mismatches all over the floor.
After Atlanta had an early lead 11-9 at the 7:06 mark in the first quarter, the Celtics responded by going on a 9-2 run to take an 18-13 lead. One thing that was consistent in the first half of this game was that anytime Boston looked like they might be about to pull away and take a double-digit lead, Atlanta would respond.
That is exactly what they did in the first quarter.
After the Celtics run to go up 18-13, the Hawks closed well and trailed by only one point, 29-28, at the end of the first quarter. Murray led the way for the Hawks with 12 points.
The Celtics were 1-11 from three in the first quarter while Atlanta was 2-8.
It was Tatum's turn to take over as the primary scorer for Boston in the second quarter. Porzingis cooled off and Brown found himself in some early foul trouble with three. Tatum had 12 points in the second quarter and was the beneficiary of several favorable calls toward the end of the quarter.
Atlanta kept attacking the paint and offensive rebounding and second-chance points were keeping them in the game. They had a 20-10 advantage scoring in the paint and had 13 second-chance points compared to just two from Boston. The Celtics were 5-7 from three in the second quarter, while Atlanta was still struggling to find their groove from the outside. Their three-point shooting was the main reason they won on Monday and they could not find it in the first half of this game.
Boston did get their lead up to seven towards the end of the half, but Atlanta kept them from extending it further and Boston led only 63-59 at the half. Atlanta came into this game as 16.5-point underdogs, but they went toe-to-toe with the team that has the best record in the NBA.
Mar 28, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Boston Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis (8) dribbles against
Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports
In the first half, Atlanta shot 52% from the field and 29% from three. Murray led all scorers with 19 points, Bogdanovic had 12, and Capela had a first-half double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Boston shot 50% from the field and 33% from three. Porzingis led the way with 17 points and Tatum had 14. They were the only Celtics in double figures.
The Hawks had a 13-2 edge in second-chance points and a 40-30 edge in points in the paint.
On Monday night. De'Andre Hunter had one of his best games of the season and led the Hawks in scoring vs Boston. He was quiet in the first half of this game, but he awoke in the third quarter.
Hunter shot 5-7 from the field and 4-5 from three to score 14 third-quarter points. It was a tightly contested third quarter too, with 14 lead changes in the quarter alone.
The Celtics were doing their damage in the quarter by getting the ball out in transition and scoring on the fast break. They had 13 fast break points in the third while Atlanta had zero.
After coming into the game as 16.5-point underdogs, Atlanta only trailed 90-89 going into the fourth quarter.
What a fourth quarter it was.
The end of the game was an absolute frenzy. With Boston leading 102-101, Dejounte Murray stepped up to hit a clutch three to take the lead 104-102. Holiday committed a foul after a Boston missed and the Hawks nailed both free throws to go up 106-102. After a Hawks miss, White nailed a three to cut it to one 106-105.
The Hawks missed their first attempt down the court, but another offensive rebound gave Bogdanovic a chance to take the lead and he did it.
Tatum came down on the other end and missed a shot, bt a Celtics rebound resulted in a made basket. Murray missed a shot on the other end and the Hawks trailed by one with 1:15 left in the game.
With a chance to take the lead, De'Andre Hunter (one of the Hawks's best free-throw shooters), missed a pair and Boston kept the lead 110-109. After the missed free throws, Brown nailed a shot on the other end and made it 112-109 and it looked like the Hawks were backed in a corner.
To try and tie the game, Murray hoisted a shot up and missed, but an offensive rebound gave the Hawks a chance to tie it again and the ball got back outside to Bogdanovic and he nailed a three with 26.7 left. Atlanta kept fighting back and was not going down.
The Celtics still had a chance to win the game though, but Tatum missed the shot as time expired and we were going to overtime!
The overtime period became the Dejounte Murray show. While he was not having the most efficient night shooting the basketball, he put the team on his back and willed them to victory.
Murray hit the first two shots of overtime to extend the lead to 116-112. Tatum forced a three-point play to cut the lead to one on the other end, but Murray came back down the court and hit another shot, giving him 39 points, two shy of his career high. Capela blocked Brown's shot on the other end, but Murray missed a three and it was still just a two-point game. White hit a three to take the lead 119-118, but guess who hit a three on the other end? It was Murray, who got his total points up to 42, a new career high for him.
Tatum was then fouled, but only split the pair of free throws and the Celtics were trailing by one. The two teams exchanged missed shots and with a chance to make it a three-point game with little time left, Murray missed a shot and Boston had the ball back with a chance to take the lead or win.
Boston inbounded the ball to Porzingis, who got a nice pass to Brown, who was guarded by Wesley Matthews. Brown took the shot and nailed it with 6.2 seconds left and the Celtics had the lead. Atlanta had time for one more possession and everyone knew where the ball was going.
The Hawks got the ball to Murray and with Jrue Holiday all over, nailed the game-winning shot and gave the Hawks their fourth straight win. It was one of the most incredible wins of the year, maybe more impressive than Monday.
It was an unbelievable performance from Murray. Yes, he took 44 shots, but given the missing players the Hawks don't have, he has needed to have games where he shoots the ball a lot and tonight against the NBA's best team, he had to hoist them up. Murray had 44 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists, while shooting 18-44 from the field and 6-19 from three. He outscored Boston 11-10 in overtime. He stepped up when called upon and it was a tremendous performance.
Atlanta shot 49% from the field and 34% from three. Bogdanovic had 24 points and Hunter had 22. Caplea finished with 12 points and 13 rebounds.
Boston finished the game shooting 48% from the floor and 39% from three. Tatum led the Celtics with 31 points, White had 22, Porzingis had 20, and Brown had 18. Atlanta held a 53-43 edge in rebounding and a 28-11 advantage in second-chance points.
This is a tremendous win for Atlanta given how short-handed they are. It is the team's fourth straight win and moves them to 34-39. It is possible given Atlanta's position that they could face Boston in the playoffs for a second straight season. The Celtics are a better team on paper, but the Hawks showed this week that they don't fear them at all and that is worth remembering.
Atlanta finishes up their five-game home stand on Saturday vs Milwaukee.
