After completing a comeback win over the Celtics on Monday, the Hawks delivered another thrilling game against Boston on Thursday night. Despite being on the second night of back-to-back games and missing several rotation players, the Hawks downed the Celtics 123-122 in overtime.
Here are five observations:
1. The Hawks had 6.2 seconds left on the clock in OT but they got the ball into Dejounte Murray’s hands. He wasted no time isolating Celtics guard Jrue Holiday before pulling up to create space and draining a jumper from midrange. He left 0.1 seconds on the clock.
“It’s all right here,” Murray said after the game. “It’s in me. I’m just built for these moments. I’m just a confident guy.”
Murray’s jumper in the final seconds capped off a huge night, where he scored 44, including all 11 of the Hawks’ points in overtime.
It’s the third time this season that Murray has hit a jumper in the closing seconds of the game to seal a victory for the Hawks. He already put up game-winners in matchups against the Magic on Jan. 17 and on Jan. 19 against the Heat.
2. Despite playing 40 minutes on Monday and another 35 minutes on Wednesday, Murray continued to put the team on his back. Murray played the entire first and third quarters, resting just a few minutes before re-entering in the second and fourth.
The extended playing time has caught up to Murray in some ways with him nursing lower back soreness before both games against the Trail Blazers and Celtics.
But he never showed signs that his back was bothering his play, scoring his career-high 44 on 44 shot attempts, grabbing seven rebounds and dishing out seven assists.
“My teammates, we’re not tanking,” Murray said. “We’re not trying to lose. We’re trying to win basketball games and figure out how high we can get. So, back soreness, it doesn’t matter. I owe these guys. So, if I can go play and compete at a high level, which I felt like I was able to, there’s no excuses, and I love the game too much but also for my teammates.”
He’s been doing it all month, averaging 27.1 points, 5.1 rebounds, 9.2 assists and 2.3 steals all in 38 minutes in March.
3. While Murray continued to put up impressive numbers on the offensive end, he was almost everywhere on the defensive end. He had two steals as the Hawks continued their recent streak of strong communication on the defensive end.
After Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis got a switch on Murray, Hawks center Bruno Fernando came to help. Fernando used his body to cut off Porzingis’ line of vision and the Celtics’ big man lost the ball.
Murray had already moved to guard another player and grabbed the loose ball.
Then Murray took advantage of Bogan Bogdanovic not yielding ground on a Porzingis post up and snatched the ball away.
“One thing about DJ, he never quit,” Bogdanovic said. “Never.”
4. The Hawks also didn’t give up on the glass with Clint Capela powering through despite the Celtics sending two or three bodies to him to grab offensive boards. He ended with 10 points and 10 rebounds by the end of the first half.
He ended up with seven of the Hawks’ 17 offensive rebounds that netted them 28 points, which helped keep them in the game. They averaged 44 points per 100 missed field goals an average of 26.9 plays, according to Cleaning the Glass.
Hawks coach Quin Snyder said that the team emphasized attacking the offensive glass before the game.
“The challenge is to get to the glass and still get back and particularly, on a back-to-back,” Snyder said. “We just said ‘we’re not allowed to be tired’ and that many guys were crashing and still trying to get back.”
5. The Hawks moved within one game of the Bulls in the East standings. The Bulls own the tiebreaker after winning the first two meetings of the season series. The two teams face each other on Monday at the United Center in Chicago.
Stat to know
44 -- Dejounte Murray attempted a Hawks franchise-record 44 field goals, passing Bob Pettit’s 43 in 1961.
Quotable
“But for me, it’s I don’t like stats, and I don’t like taking that many shots. I’m tired. But at the end of the day that’s what I had to do. And we got a great win.” -- Dejounte Murray on what he felt after scoring a career-high 44 points on 44 shot attempts.
Up next
The Hawks cap off their homestand on Saturday night with a visit from the Bucks.
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