It was truly a tale of two halves in the Atlanta Hawks’ 127-113 victory over Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves last night.
The Timberwolves could seemingly do no wrong on offense in the first-half, shooting 12-18 from downtown (and 67.4% overall) en route to an eye-popping 164.6 offensive rating over the first 24 minutes. Anthony Edwards, playing back in his hometown for the fourth time in his career, was sensational out of the gate – putting up 20 points on 8-9 shooting in the first-half. While the Hawks hardly struggled on offense themselves in the first-half (120.8 offensive rating, 9-18 from three-point range), they simply could not keep up with Minnesota’s ridiculous shooting, and found themselves facing a 79-60 deficit by the time the half-time buzzer sounded.
The game threatened to get out of hand early in the 3rd quarter, as the Timberwolves turned an Edwards steal into a Mike Conley three to extend their lead to 21 at the nine-minute mark. From that point on, the Hawks, and namely, Dejounte Murray, said “enough is enough”, and turned the game on its head. Atlanta closed the 3rd quarter on a 33-12 run, tying the ball-game at 98 apiece, with Murray racking up 20 points on 8-8 shooting during this stretch. The man was simply unconscious, and capped off the period in style, dropping in this long-bomb over Nickeil Alexander-Walker – sending long-time Hawks’ announcer, Bob Rathburn into a frenzy.
While Murray’s offensive output will surely and deservedly steal the headlines, he (as well as the rest of the team) also upped the intensity on the defensive end in the 3rd quarter.
Atlanta did not take their foot of the gas in the 4th quarter. Murray and Trae Young powered the Hawks to a 9-0 run as soon as the period began, forcing Timberwolves head-coach, Chris Finch, into an early timeout, but it was to no avail. Atlanta would not let Minnesota get closer than that the rest of the way, and this lob from Young to Jalen Johnson with just under four minutes to go all but sealed the deal. Although if there were any doubts, Jalen certainly put them to bed with this windmill jam (oh my goodness) to put the Hawks up by 19 with under two minutes to go.
When the dust settled, the Hawks outscored Minnesota 67-34 in the second-half, and claimed a 127-113 victory, to bring them to 2-2 on the young season. The Hawks’ finished this one with a 130.9 offensive rating (including a sparkling 1.18 ppp in the half-court – a season-best mark), and were simply magnificent in the second half.
Murray finished with 41 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists. Young had 24 points, 8 assists and just 1 turnover. De’Andre Hunter and Jalen Johnson (who started for the second consecutive game against a more physical opponent) finished with 16 and 12 points respectively, on efficient shooting. Saddiq Bey (11 points, 6 rebounds, 3-3 from downtown) and Onyeka Okongwu (10 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists) were top performers off the bench for the Hawks.
Atlanta is back in action Wednesday night against the Wizards. Tipoff for that one is at 7:30 p.m. eastern on Bally Sports!
