The Hawks are not on the list of favorites this season, but they are in that group of dangerous teams that you can’t trust in the slightest.
Denver checked it out last night. After winning four consecutive games, those from Colorado succumbed to Atlanta, and that they did not have their franchise player: Trae Young. In his absence, Dejounte Murray took command of the operations to go up to 34 points and distribute four assists. He was undoubtedly the leader of a team that completed a very good game to give the Nuggets no option in the final stretch.
Because it was. Always in tow, Denver gritted its teeth in the fourth quarter to fall within three points with less than four minutes to play. They didn’t go from there. They conceded an 8-0 run and went three minutes without scoring. There was no emotion. The Georgians took the game 117-109.
“I think we’ve just shown how deep we are. We have young talent and a lot of hard-working guys. We had three key guys out, three starters, and it’s hard to win games in this league in those circumstances, especially playing against a team like this. Obviously, their record shows what they have been doing this season,” says Murray, proud of the victory against the Nuggets, and emphasizing the absences of John Collins, De’Andre Hunter and the aforementioned Young.
Faced with so much loss, less common players took a step forward. Rookie AJ Griffin went to 24 points and four other players were in double figures in scoring. Also, to round out the evening they enjoyed the return of Bogdan Bogdanovic, who made his season debut with five points after undergoing knee surgery.
Blow for the Nuggets
On paper, a victory for Denver was expected, but as always happens, it is the parquet that ends up passing the sentence. There the Hawks were better despite the fact that Nikola Jokic approached the triple-double with 24 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists. Jamal Murray also did well with 20 points and Bones Hyland with 16 off the bench. Ish Smith pointed out at the end of the clash that all the players who are in the NBA must be respected.
I give them 100% credit. There are 450 guys in this league. You have to respect everyone. I think they have talented guys. They had the chance to play and they did really well”, he explains.
(Photograph by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)