Following their come-from-behind victory against the New York Knicks on Wednesday, the Hawks started a three-game home stretch clawing out a win against the New Orleans Pelicans in overtime, 124-121. The game was a back and forth affair with both teams going on runs to keep pace.
Atlanta led by as many as 13, with under five minutes remaining in the fourth. The Pelicans came storming back to take the lead with 58 seconds remaining, following a Zion Williamson turnaround jumper. It was Hawks’ guard, Dejounte Murray, that came to the rescue, as he hit a clutch pull-up jumper to tie the game and send it to OT with 4.8 seconds remaining. Brandon Ingram did have a chance at the end of regulation for the Pelicans but the shot hit the back iron for a miss. Atlanta outlasted New Orleans in the overtime period to secure the W.
Trae Young came out the gate hot scoring 10 points and getting his team involved early with four assists in the first quarter alone. Young had a big night going toe-to-toe against Zion Williamson, finishing with 34 points and 10 assists, while shooting 14-15 from the charity strike. Williamson finished with 29 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists for reference. CJ McCollum chipped in a nice performance for the Pelicans finishing with 29 points and 10 rebounds in 41 minutes.
Yet, it was Clint Capela who controlled the game with his defense and rebounding, on his way to a monster double-double of 21 points, 19 rebounds and adding in four blocks. After a rough start to the season, many questioned Capela’s ability to keep his starting position, but this performance gave new life to the veteran center, and was easily his best outing of the young season.
In the second quarter, it seemed as if the Hawks would take control of this game, but to the Pelicans’ credit they just kept hanging around. Jalen Johnson displayed his potential in his minutes off the bench, scoring 7 points on 3-3 shooting with two steals in the second period. A fantastic Young-to-Capela lob pushed the lead to 12 with just 3:20 left in the second quarter. New Orleans came out and had a great third quarter offensively, scoring 33 points, while Young was doing everything he could to keep Atlanta from losing their lead.
The Hawks now turn their focus to the Milwaukee Bucks, a team they just saw last week, as they come into town. Milwaukee is the lone undefeated team left in the association, so expect this to be a dogfight. Tip-off for Monday’s game is at 8:15 p.m. eastern.
