Atlanta Hawks Kept Receipts From Naysayers

Trae Young and Dejounte Murray sound off after upset victory over Miami Heat.

Some games mean more than others. On Tuesday night, the Atlanta Hawks victory over the Miami Heat felt more like an exorcism of demons than a win against a divisional rival.

Roughly this time last year, Miami bullied Atlanta in a five-game gentleman's sweep in the first round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs. Trae Young looked like a shell of himself, and some stats suggest his shooting never recovered from the series.

Add Dejounte Murray and new coach Quin Snyder to the mix, and it's an entirely different story in the one-game series. Atlanta beat Miami 116-105 to clinch the seventh seed and a trip to Boston to face the Celtics.

🥶😏🤦🏽‍♂️🤣 https://t.co/cEYXKQFCJL

— Trae Young (@TheTraeYoung) April 12, 2023

Before shifting their focus to Boston, the Hawks official social media account and the team's players took a massive victory lap on Twitter and Instagram. Young called out all 17 experts from ESPN for picking Miami to defeat Atlanta. Then on his Instagram account, Young reposted several stories calling out the naysayers.

Everyone who knows Dejounte Murray can attest to his fiery spirit and the massive chip on his shoulder. Murray quote-tweeted a similar post of expert predictions and diplomatically said, "JOKES ON YOU MFS!!!! @espn".

https://t.co/lbGBHzLZsy pic.twitter.com/V46BRgCo0K

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) April 12, 2023

Even the Hawks' social media manager got in on the fun. Before the game, TNT analyst Charles Barkley playfully wagered one billion dollars on Miami with co-host Shaquille O'Neal.

The Hawks' Twitter account quote-tweeted the video with a popular gif from 2018 of North Carolina A&T head football coach Sam Washington saying, "Bring me my money." 

Atlanta deserves to revel in their victory. It has been a painful season where the front office and coaching staff got remixed on the fly, and the players failed to meet expectations. Soak it in now, as the real work begins on Saturday in Boston.