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Dejounte Murray's career-best 44 points lift Hawks over Celtics again

Lauren Williams, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on

Published in Basketball

ATLANTA — 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.”

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