Hawks' Dejounte Murray tips cap to 'OG,' gets honest about win over Heat

Missing Trae Young, the Atlanta Hawks (18-23) got a big win over the Miami Heat on January 19.

They got it quite literally thanks to Dejounte Murray, who sunk the go-ahead basket, leaving just 2.0 seconds on the clock for the Heat. Miami failed to get a shot off and dropped the game on the night they were retiring 20-year veteran and Heat lifer Udonis Haslem’s jersey.

“Congratulations to Udonis Haslem,” Murray told reporters after the game. “He's a real vet, real professional. I call him a OG. I just want to put that out there. But we wanted the spoil that night tonight. We wanted to get the win tonight, that was the talk for us. We got to sit long at half time, whatever. So let's go get the win. so our mentality was win no matter what.”

Murray finished with a team-high 22 points and 11 assists, adding three rebounds and two steals, while also going 3-for-7 from beyond the arc.

This game snapped a streak of three games where Murray could hit just one three-pointer.

It was also Murray’s second straight game-winning shot. He also sunk the closing basket against the Orlando Magic on January 17. But he said he moved on from that one, and noted that the Hawks wouldn’t have even been in that situation had they made more shots.

Hawks get hot from beyond the arc in win over Heat

The Hawks shot well from deep, knocking down 42.9% of their deep looks, including going 5-for-9 from downtown in the fourth quarter.

“Quin Snyder is our coach,” Murray said with a smile. “He loves that three-ball. He's pushing it in practice. The right way, though. Not trying to force dudes. He's just a coach that … believes in his guys, and he's a coach that builds confidence in his guys if he see you like that, no matter who you are.

“He said … take a 100 of them in a row if you're wide open. 

“When you have a coach believe in everybody like that, but he also see the work every single day. At the end of the day, you’re going to make shots, you’re going to miss shots. It went our way tonight, and we got a great win versus a great team.”

The Hawks moved to 2-1 without Young this season. This is also just their second winning streak of more than two games all season.

They will complete the second leg of their back-to-back hosting the Cleveland Cavaliers.