Dejounte Murray's Incredible Second Half Lifts Hawks Past Timberwolves
It was a tale of two halves in Atlanta tonight. After trailing by 19 in the first half, Dejounte Murray lifted the Hawks past Minnesota at home, got the Hawks' record to 2-2, and saved them from falling to a 1-3 start.
The Hawks used the same starting lineup that they had against Milwaukee on Sunday night. Trae Young, Murray, De'Andre Hunter, Jalen Johnson, and Clint Capela. Minnesota got a big boost by the return of Jaden McDaniels to the starting lineup alongside Mike Conley, Anthony Edwards, Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert.
It was about as dismal of a first half as you could imagine for the Hawks.
After getting out to an 8-3 lead in the first quarter, it was all Minnesota. The Wolves hit five of their first six three-pointers and McDaniels had eight quick points. Bogdan Bogdanovic was the first sub of the game and then Saddiq Bey, AJ Griffin, and Onyeka Okongwu checked in the game.
Minnesota shot 71% from three and 68% from the field in the first quarter and were led by the 14 points and five assists for Edwards.
The thing is, Atlanta was not bad on the offensive end. They shot 58% from the field, 55% from three and if they could just figure out the defense, the had the offense to beat what had been the second-ranked defense coming into tonight in terms of PPG given up.
The second quarter was just as bad as the first for Atlanta.
Despite Gobert picking up two technical fouls, Minnesota stayed focused and kept on making shots. They led 79-60 at the half. Minnesota shot 67% from the field and from three. Hawks shot 50% from the field and three. It looked as if the Hawks were dead in the water, but Dejounte Murray had other ideas.
Dejounte Murray led the Hawks to a win over the Timberwolves tonight
Murray outscored the Wolves completely on his own in the third quarter 22-19 and after the Hawks had trailed by as many as 21, they had the lead. He was 8-8 in the quarter and was also playing great defense on Wolves guard Anthony Edwards. Atlanta shot 77.8% in the quarter compared to 26.8% for Minnesota. It was a perfect quarter in every way for the Hawks and Murray, who played every minute of the quarter.
The game was tied heading into the fourth quarter, but you could feel the momentum all in the Hawks' favor as they just kept hitting shot after shot in the game.
The Hawks shot 50% in the 4th quarter and outscored the Wolves 29-15. Atlanta went on a 47-19 run in the second half and Minnesota could not make a shot. It felt like a Hawks blowout win in the fourth quarter and after a completely dominant 24 minutes, Atlanta won the game 127-113.
Atlanta shot 55% from the field and 46% from three. Murray finished with 41 points, seven rebounds, and five assists. Young had 24 points and eight assists, while Hunter chipped in 16.
After their incredible performance in the first half, Minnesota shot 29% from the field and 26% from three. Edwards finished with 31 points. KAT had 16 points on 7-17 shooting.
Next up for the Hawks will be the Washington Wizards on Wednesday.
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