The Atlanta Hawks were given a proper scare by the Orlando Magic on Monday night in what turned out to be a nail-biter of a contest. Dejounte Murray and the Hawks were able to hold on to the win, but it required a couple of clutch free throws from the All-Star guard to seal the 126-125 victory.
The Magic ended up outscoring the Hawks 31-22 in the fourth quarter as they set up a frantic finish. Fortunately, Murray was able to sink the game-winning free throws after an ill-advised foul from Magic rookie Paolo Banchero. While Murray admits that he's pleased with the victory, he's still ruing the fact that the Hawks even gave the Magic a chance at the end of the game:
“We shouldn’t even be in that situation,” Murray said (h/t Joshua Buckhalter of Fansided). “That’s showing where we got room to improve as a team as a whole. We can’t be in that situation…I’m happy about the win but I’m upset because we’re trying to grow something bigger.”
Murray finished the game with 17 points, five rebounds, and three assists. He complimented Trae Young's monster 37-point, 13-assist triple-double as the Hawks superstar duo joined forces to take down the Magic.
“When it’s time to be clutch, I’m ready for any moment against anybody. So, for me, that just is what it is,” Murray said of his late-game heroics.
That's now two straight wins for the Hawks, following their 125-106 victory over the Charlotte Hornets on Friday. Atlanta is still eighth in the East, though, and Dejounte Murray knows that they need to be much better the rest of the way:
“We can be dangerous,” Murray said. “We got to mature, we got to grow up now. We want to do big things. We don’t want to be a team that’s showing we can do it [and] then not show it. We want to be consistent so we can reach that next level. It’s not going to be easy but I really believe we can do it.”
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