ATLANTA — De’Andre Hunter could have held the ball and forced the Celtics to foul.
Instead, he let it fly.
Considering what the Atlanta Hawks had done, coming back from a 30-point deficit against NBA-leading Boston, it was entirely fitting that the shot only hit the net.
Hunter scored 24 points, including a decisive 3-point shot with 9.2 seconds remainingand the patched-up Hawks pulled off one of the most improbable victories in franchise history with a 120-118 stunner over the Celtics on Monday night.
The Celtics had won 20 of 22 and were on a nine-game winning streak at State Farm Arena – a streak that certainly didn’t seem in jeopardy when Al Horford’s 3-point basket put Boston up 68-38 with just under 4 1/2 minutes to play. the first half.
But the Hawks, clinging to the final play-in spot in the East and one of the league’s most disappointing teams, launched a comeback out of nowhere with All-Star guard Trae Young and three other players keys sidelined by injuries.
It was Atlanta’s biggest win since at least the 1997-98 season, when the NBA began maintaining detailed play-by-play.
Dejounte Murray gave the Hawks the lead to stay at 117-116 on a reverse layup with a minute remaining. Jaylen Brown missed a desperation 3 with the shot clock expiring, and Hunter sealed things on the other end with a huge assist from Clint Capela.
After Murray missed a jumper, Capela grabbed the offensive rebound and spotted Hunter all alone at the top of the key. Even though the shot clock was off and Hunter could have forced the Celtics into a foul, he released an open look from 26 feet away.
Hunter had gone through the scenario before getting the ball.
“If he passes it to me, I’ll shoot,” Hunter said to himself. “He got the rebound, he passed it to me, so I shot it.”
Hawks coach Quin Snyder had no problem with the seemingly ill-advised decision.
“He didn’t hesitate,” Snyder said. “He shot the ball with confidence and I had confidence in him.”
It was a shocking loss for the Celtics in a win-filled season, against a team that had them trailing by 25 1/2 games in the Eastern Conference standings.
“We took our foot off the gas in the second half and they found a good rhythm,” said Jayson Tatum, who led the Celtics with 37 points. “It’s a tough pill to swallow.”
Atlanta’s comeback began with a 9-0 run to end the first half, which cut the deficit to 74-56 as the teams headed to the locker rooms.
The momentum carried into the third quarter, which began with Atlanta ripping off 19 of the next 23 points to narrow the gap to 78-75.
After the Celtics repeatedly flirted with the idea of pulling away again, the Hawks finally took their first lead of the night when a little-used Wesley Matthews nailed a 3 to make it 97-96 with 9:42 left.
Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 22 points and Murray added 19, but it was several players who are normally buried deep on the bench that really carried the Hawks.
Vit Krejci scored 16 points, including a 3-pointer that had him shrugging his shoulders at his teammates as if he couldn’t quite believe what was happening. Bruno Fernando scored 13 and Matthews made two crucial 3s.
“It felt like everything we did was going (well) for us,” Krejci said. “It was a really good time. We have to find a way to feel that throughout the entire game.
With many fans in green cheering them on in Atlanta, the Celtics doubled the home team’s lead in the first quarter by taking a 44-22 lead.
Boston made 16 of 24 shots in the first half, including 5 of 7 from beyond the 3-point arc, in addition to going 7 of 7 from the foul line.
Tatum finished the half with 23 points, four rebounds, four assists, two steals and a blocked shot. But he was stalled a bit in the second half by Krejci, who began carrying the Boston star from one end of the court to the other.
Brown added 24 points for the Celtics.
FOLLOWING
Celtics: With a strange scheduling quirk, Boston will enjoy an extended stay in Atlanta before the same teams meet again on Thursday.
Hawks: Atlanta plays another home game against the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday, sandwiched between its two games against the Celtics.
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