The Atlanta Hawks and Orlando Magic gave the capacity-crowd of 22,000-plus a show Thursday night at CDMX Arena in Mexico City. A go-ahead three-pointer by Atlanta’s, Dejounte Murray, with 30 seconds remaining, sealed a 120-119 victory for the Hawks.
Trae Young treated the Mexican fans with one of his best outing’s of the young season. He finished with 33 points in the first-half alone, and ended the night with a season-high 41 points. Young shot 12-27 from the field overall, 5-15 from beyond the arc, and a hyper-efficient 12-13 from the charity stripe. He also chipped in 8 assists and had another impressive showing in the steals column with three total.
The energy for this one was high from the get-go, as both teams were playing as if this was a playoff matchup. It was a back and forth affair for the most part, but Orlando started to pull away with a strong third quarter, outscoring Atlanta 29-20. The Magic led by as many as 11 in the fourth, but the Hawks kept sticking around.
Jalen Johnson had another strong performance and was instrumental in the Atlanta win. He finished with a team-high +15 in +/-, and finished with 19 points and 9 rebounds.
But it was Atlanta’s Murray who hit the shot of the night. Young drove the lane with the shot clock winding down and somehow found his backcourt teammate, for a good look from three. Murray sank the shot in front of the Orlando bench to put Atlanta up by one and for good. He finished with 16 points on the night.
Orlando did have a chance to win this game, but a Paulo Banchero-three was off the mark solidifying the win for the Hawks. The Magic were led by Jalen Suggs who finished with 21 points, on 7-10 shooting overall, and an impressive six steals. The former-number one overall pick, Banchero, finished with 17 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists, but was largely held in check by Johnson, in a battle of former-Duke Blue Devils.
Young had nothing but nice things to say about his experience in Mexico City. [quote provided by AP via ESPN.com]
“I love the energy of the arena tonight, the electricity. It was fun playing here. I know we’re obviously probably going to expand the league and expand it to a couple more cities. I mean, I’m going to be open to playing here. This is an unbelievable place to play.”
The Hawks now improve to 5-3 on the season and will head back home to host the Miami Heat Saturday Night at State Farm Arena.
