Dejounte Murray scored 34 points, and the Atlanta Hawks overcame a slow start to defeat the Houston Rockets 122-113 on Saturday. The Hawks, who allegedly mulled trading Murray prior to Thursday’s deadline, won for the sixth time in eight games.
Trae Young led the Hawks with 18 points and eight assists, Saddiq Bey had 24 points, and Jalen Johnson contributed 21.
Jalen Green had 26 points, 14 rebounds, and 10 assists for the Rockets, who lost all four of their road games. Green recorded his first career triple-double. Jeff Green scored 19 points, a season best, and Aaron Holiday had 18 against his former team.
Murray also had seven assists and six rebounds while shooting 12 of 15 from the free throw line. The 15 attempts marked a career high.
“Just playing my game and they gave me some calls,” Murray went on to say.
Bey’s 3-pointer from the corner with little under two minutes left gave the Hawks a 118-109 advantage, and Atlanta sealed the deal from there. Bey went 4 for 9 from outside the arc, his fourth straight game of shooting at least 40% from deep after achieving that mark just once in his previous eleven outings.
“We said, ‘Keep shooting, keep shooting, keep shooting,'” Hawks coach Quin Snyder explained. “He is rough. The fact that he continues to shoot the ball even when he does not see it go in demonstrates this. “His defensive consistency demonstrates that.”
Johnson finished the first half with a putback slam, giving the Hawks a 57-49 advantage. The agile big man had six dunks during the game.
Atlanta outscored the Rockets 38-18 in the second quarter, despite missing its final eight field goal tries and shooting 29% in the first.
Both sides were shorthanded.
Alperen Sengun, the Rockets’ leading scorer and rebounder, sat out due to lower back soreness. Sengun started all 51 games. Fred VanVleet, the starting guard, missed his third straight game due to a left adductor strain. Cam Whitmore, a rookie wing with 11.9 points per game, hurt his ankle on Friday and had to sit out.
The Hawks were without starters De’Andre Hunter right knee and Clint Capela adductor strain. Kobe Bufkin, the Hawks’ first-round draft pick, played his first meaningful game of his rookie season, hitting a three and finished with three points and three rebounds in 15 minutes.
