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USA Today via Reuters

USA Today via Reuters

A go-ahead jumper in the final second of overtime, courtesy of Dejounte Murray, sealed the thrilling matchup between the Hawks and Celtics. Atlanta won 123-122 in what was a tightly contested game. But that’s not all he did. With his third 40+ point outing of March, Murray became the fifth Hawk to achieve that milestone. The others who have done this feat are Dominique Wilkins, Trae Young, Bob Pettit, and John Drew. But what’s becoming more viral is a message via his X account.

Dejounte did not only get his name among the Hawks players, but he also joined the ranks of NBA legend, Kobe Bryant and LA’s Russell Westbrook. These two are the only players who have taken more than 44 shots in the past 20 seasons! Murray posted a whole bunch of laughing emojis followed by, “Shoutout RUSS AND KOBE!!!! I’m Tired Dawg!!!!”

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Funny enough, Coach Quin Snyder shared post-game that he had half-jokingly asked Dejounte Murray to knock down 16 threes tonight. Snyder asked him to do so because of the defensive prowess of Boston. “He got up 19 … so he’s coachable,” he said with a straight face.

With tonight’s win, the Atlanta Hawks are 34-39 ranking 10th and just one game behind the Bulls in the East. But March was the month of Dejounte Murray. The team’s 8-6 record this month is primarily Murray. His stats for the Eastern Conference’s rank this month also tell a similar story. Murray’s 27.1 points rank fourth, 38.0 minutes third, 4.0 triples rank second, 9.0 assists are third, and his 2.3 steals take the second position.

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Dejoute Murray and Co. tie the regular season series vs Boston 2-2

Murray, in overtime, was pretty much a Marvel superhero, scoring all of Atlanta’s 11 points himself. Tonight’s win marks their second win over Boston in four days. Along with Dejounte Murray’s 44, he also had seven rebounds and assists each. The Celtics had all of their key pieces present for tonight’s matchup, including Jrue Holiday on his first game after return from injury.

Although the Hawks were behind by about 30 points, they still managed to rally to get the upper hand for the final play-in spot. It made for the biggest comeback for the Blackhawks since the 1997-98 season. They will keep the place if nothing untoward happens in the next nine games. The likelihood of them facing the Celtics in the first round of the playoffs is also high, provided they make it past the play-in.

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Anyway, they will host the No.2 seed, Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday night. Hopefully, they can showcase a similar standing.

Read More: “Kobe (Bryant) Would Be Proud”: Dejounte Murray Reluctantly Takes Pride After Dragging Hawks Vs Celtics