Dejounte Murray hit the go-ahead jump shot in the final second of overtime to lead the Atlanta Hawks to a 123-122 victory over Boston on Thursday, their second win in four days against the NBA's best Celtics.
Murray scored all 11 of the Hawks' points in overtime, scoring a career-high 44 points and helping the Hawks maintain momentum toward an Eastern Conference berth.
The Celtics, who have the league's best record at 57-16 and are already assured of the top seed in the East, dropped two games in Atlanta this week before the Hawks erased a 30-point deficit and won on Monday.
The rematch was a tense back-and-forth battle with 41 lead changes, with neither team ever leading by more than eight points.
With 6.6 seconds left in overtime, Boston star Jaylen Brown's pull-up jumper gave the Celtics a 122-121 lead.
Murray answered Jrue Holiday with a basket.
“This is the best team in the league. We fought,” Murray said of the Hawks' 120-106 win over Portland on Wednesday. “We didn't use the fact that we were tired from back-to-back games as an excuse.
“We went out and competed. These are the games I want to be a part of.”
The Hawks won their fourth straight game, with Bogdan Bogdanovic scoring 24 points and DeAndre Hunter adding 21 points and 13 rebounds.
Jayson Tatum led Boston with 31 points and 13 rebounds, but missed a potentially game-winning 3-pointer in the final second of regulation.
Kristaps Porzingis finished with 20 points and Brown finished with 18 points.
However, the Hawks came out on top and defeated the Celtics 53-43, allowing 28 second-chance points to Boston's 11.
“We're fighting for a play-in/playoff spot,” Murray said of his Hawks team, which currently holds the 10th and final play-in spot. “We all showed up.”
In New Orleans, Zion Williamson scored 28 points and CJ McCollum added 25 points to lead the Pelicans to a 107-100 victory over Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks.
For New Orleans, Jonas Valanciunas recorded his 32nd double-double of the season with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
Two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Antetokounmpo had 35 points and 14 rebounds for Milwaukee, but the Bucks were unable to bounce back after losing in overtime to the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday, losing their second straight game. .
The Pelicans led by as many as 18 points in the first half, but the Bucks had cut the lead to five points with 3:27 left.
New Orleans continued to attack and was shut out from near the foul line, with Williamson making five free throws in the remaining time.
“Z was great night in and night out,” Pelicans coach Willie Green said. “He carries the team on his shoulders.”
The Pelicans won despite the poor quality of the game. He made just 36-of-91 shots from the floor and 8-of-32 from 3-point range.
“It was a gutsy win on our home floor,” Green said. “Our defense was very good. We played strong from start to finish.
“Even if we didn't make the shots, we continued to make plays that won us the game.”
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