Atlanta has now won three games in a row and is 18-23.
Having one buzzer beater in a season is a significant accomplishment. Having two is quite wild.
Having a buzzer in consecutive games? That doesn’t happen very often, but it occurred when Dejounte Murray hit his second buzzer in as many games, and the Hawks won convincingly on the road against the Miami Heat.
Atlanta was missing standout point player Trae Young for this game, making them huge underdogs against a mostly healthy Miami Heat club.
Miami has been an Achilles Heel for the Hawks for the past few seasons, but the Hawks battled tonight to get a much-needed win.
Atlanta closed as an 11.5-point underdog at most sportsbooks. The starting five without Young was Bogdan Bogdanovic (who has been the starter when Young has had to miss games), Murray, Saddiq Bey, Jalen Johnson, and Clint Capela.
In the second quarter, things tightened up, and Miami started to come alive on offense and a lot of that had to do with Duncan Robinson. Robinson had 11 points in the quarter and Miami shot 55%. Atlanta did not play poorly, but the Heat were shooting the ball well and cut the lead to one going into the half.
At halftime, Atlanta shot 47.8% from the field and 42.1% from three. Murray had 15 points and five assists.
Miami’s first-half shooting percentage was 44.7% from the field and 42.1% from three. Butler scored 13 points, Herro had 10, and Robinson had 14.
Miami jumped all over Atlanta to begin the third quarter. The Heat jumped off to an 8-2 lead, and the Hawks fell behind quickly. They recovered, like they had throughout the game, and trailed by only two points entering the fourth quarter.
With about 5:29 left, Heat guard Josh Richardson drew a foul and had a chance for a three-point play to push the Heat’s lead to five. It looked like the Heat were starting to pull away.
But the Hawks answered with a 6-0 run and Atlanta grabbed the lead 98-97.
Going into the final two minutes of the game, you knew the ball was going to be in the hands of Jimmy Butler and that is what happened.
With less than a minute left, the Hawks trailed by three, but Clint Capela was fouled and had a chance to trim the deficit to one. Capela isn’t renowned for his free-throw shooting, but he’s been consistent this season, hitting both. Atlanta trailed 105–104.
The Hawks needed a defensive stop, and it appeared they would get it. The shot clock was going down, and Butler had the ball in his hands, but he swung it out to Tyler Herro, who sank a three as the shot clock expired, and Miami moved back up by four, and it appeared like the Hawks were done.
Miami started Caleb Martin, Tyler Herro, Jimmy Butler, Nikola Jovic, and Bam Adebayo.
It was hard to imagine a much better start for the Hawks than the one they had tonight vs Miami. Without Young, Atlanta was going to have to rely on Murray and Bogdanovic to carry the offense and be threats from the perimeter and that was what happened at the start.
Murray had nine first-quarter points and the Hawks hit five three-pointers in the first quarter and the Hawks raced out to a 32-24 lead, which was surprising.
The Hawks won the game, took home their third straight win, and moved their record to 18-23.
The Hawks shot 46% for the game and 42.9% from three. Murray finished with 22 points and Jalen Johnson had 15 points and seven rebounds.
Miami shot 46.3% from the field and 38.7% from three. Butler and Herro each had 25 points and Adebayo had 21 points, nine rebounds, and six assists.
The Hawks are going to be back on the court tomorrow night with a matchup against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
