Peachtree Hoops: Murray, Hawks defeat Celtics in overtime thriller for fourth straight win

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Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

Dejounte Murray scores 44 points on a franchise record-setting 44 shots in the mid-week sweep of Celtics

The Atlanta Hawks have won four games in a row. They ran the Hornets out of the gym in a 40 point victory, mounted a historic comeback against the Boston Celtics, handled the Trail Blazers, and defeated the Celtics again on the latter of a back-to-back.

The Hawks turned the ball over on their first two possessions, and Jaylen Brown took a 4-0 lead on his own. Capela then scored four points to tie it up. Dejounte Murray was firing up shots from the beginning, missing his first three attempts before sinking a three-pointer over Kristaps Porzingis. Porzingis matched up on Murray defensively would prove to be crucial in the finish of this game.

Murray then got downhill for a layup in transition, and air-balled a three-pointer on the following possession. The Celtics took a 21-13 advantage. but the Hawks bench provided a spark. Upon entering, Garrison Mathews scored a floater and Bruno Fernando scored an and-one in the restricted area. With a series of missed jump shots for the Celtics, Murray scored a layup, buried a corner three-pointer, and knocked down a midrange to finish the quarter, with the Celtics holding a 29-28 lead. The Celtics shot just 1-of-11 from distance in the first quarter while Murray sank the Hawks’ only two three-point makes on eight attempts. The defense was impressive for the most part, especially on this switch between Murray and Bruno Fernando. As you can tell, Porzingis had the favorable matchup on Murray, but he and Fernando talked, switched, and Murray secured a steal on his way to guarding Xavier Tillman.

Garrison Mathews served as a nice lift off the bench, scoring seven points in the first half, with just one of buckets coming as a three-pointer. He hit a floater in the first quarter, and made an impressive play to knock down this midrange in the second. After this, he drew a charge on Jaylen Brown in the fast break. Shortly after that, he sank a three-pointer from the corner.

The Celtics held on to a one-or-two possession lead for the majority of the quarter. Capela was dominating on the offensive glass, providing the Hawks with plenty of second chance opportunities. When the Celtics got stops initially defensively, the Hawks were securing offensive rebounds all night. After Capela cleaned up a missed layup, Murray scored the next seven points. He continued to hit tough shots, working in the midrange as he always does.

Though the Celtics made more shots in the second quarter, the lapses in defensive rebounding became glaringly bad and the Hawks took advantage. Jayson Tatum tried to put Capela on a poster, but Capela politely declined. On the other end, the Capela scored on yet another second chance effort after Bogdanovic missed a three-pointer. On the following possession, it was Vit Krejci playing cleanup.

The Hawks entered halftime trailing 63-59. Murray had 19 points on 19 shot attempts, while Bogdanovic scored 12 on zero makes from beyond the arc. Capela had already logged a double double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, six of those rebounds being offensive. The Hawks had nine total offensive rebounds to the Celtics’ three.

The Hawks started the third quarter with a 4-0 run to tie the game up at 63. The third quarter was full of De’Andre Hunter buckets. On the possession prior, Hunter made a three-pointer from the right wing. On the following possession, Capela grabbed yet another offensive rebound, and Hunter drilled another.

At this point in the game, The Hawks had only taken one free throw attempt. Bogdanovic then hit two of his two attempts at the charity stripe. Also, it wouldn’t be the last we hear from Hunter. He would go on to score eight more points in the quarter, bringing him to 14 in the third quarter alone. He sank four three pointers, and made one driving layup.

The Hawks narrowly outscored the Celtics in the third, 30-27. They would enter the fourth quarter trailing by just one point. This game included 40 lead changes, and if you couldn’t tell, a staggering second chance points advantage in the Hawks’ favor. Some of the most clutch scores of the game came on second chance opportunities the Hawks created for themselves. As they continued to capitalize, they kept themselves in the game.

The final minutes of regulation were thrilling. Murray nailed a three-pointer over his former teammate Derrick White to retake the lead, again, with less than five minutes left.

The Celtics made their fair share of clutch shots as well. As soon as the Hawks took a 106-102 lead, White and Tatum made three-pointers to put the Celtics back on top.

After making zero attempts from distance through the first three quarters, it appears Bogdanovic was waiting for the biggest moments of the game to make his mark. He nailed a triple to take the lead again, but Tatum responded to keep the Celtics up one point. Then, after yet another offensive rebound, Bogi sank what would be the second biggest shot of the game. After this possession, the Hawks would force Tatum into an uncomfortable missed three-point attempt, taking us to overtime.

Overtime posed a lot of questions from Celtics fans. Murray took eight of the Hawks’ nine shot attempts in the overtime period, and made five of them. The way the Celtics chose to guard him, however, was the most interesting decision of the game. Though you can’t see it in this clip, the Celtics were switching on ball screens, and this led to Porzingis matched up with Murray on a light screen by De’Andre Hunter.

The Celtics conceded the same matchup twice in a row, leading to two more midrange scores from Dejounte Murray.

On the following possessions, Murray went at Derrick White twice. He missed a midrange first, then White blocked his next midrange attempt. Brown played good defense and contested Murray on another missed attempt. Then, Jrue Holiday stuck on Murray, nearly forcing a turnover. Not conceding switches in the matchup to Murray proved to work for the Celtics, but it was much too late to make that decision. Defensively, after the Hawks blew up the Celtics’ offensive set, All-Star Jaylen Brown hit an All-Star shot to take the lead.

However, Dejounte Murray had other plans. Coming into this game with some game-winners under his belt this season, he made magic happen again. He took a contested midrange over Jrue Holiday and sure enough, nothing but nylon.

Quin Snyder spoke on Dejounte Murray’s impressive performance in the post game presser.

I wasn’t joking but, half-joking I guess, when I told him to get sixteen threes up tonight... I think he shot nineteen so, he’s coachable... He’s defending too, I think sometimes, our whole team is defending, so that’s good to see.

There’s been a focus on defending, and that’s created offensive opportunities for us... There was a stretch where Hunt gave us buckets, there was a stretch where Bogi gave us buckets.

Snyder mentioned that rebounding was a point of emphasis for them before the game, and the 28 second chance points reflected that notion. Dejounte Murray and Bogdanovic then sat at the post game table together, and Murray was asked how he stays mentally tough.

I mean, my teammates. We’re not tanking, we’re not (trying to) lose, we’re (trying to) win basketball games and figure out how high we can get. Back soreness, it doesn’t matter... there’s no excuses.

When asked how he felt tonight after a four game win streak and a record-setting night.

First of all, without him (Bogi), we lose the game. Great player, great guy. But for me, 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... We got a great team win and we got to be ready for the Bucks Saturday.

The work on the offensive glass ultimately kept the Hawks alive long enough for Murray to put this game away. The Hawks will face the Bucks this Saturday.

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