Hawks rally from 30 points down to stun Celtics
ATLANTA — De’Andre Hunter could’ve held the ball and forced the Celtics to foul.
Instead, he let it fly. Considering what the Atlanta Hawks had done, rallying from a 30-point deficit against NBA-leading Boston, it was only appropriate the shot hit nothing but net.
Hunter scored 24 points, including a clinching 3-pointer with 9.2 seconds remaining, and the patched-together Hawks pulled off one of the most improbable wins in franchise history with a 120118 stunner over the Celtics on Monday night.
The Celtics had won 20 of 22 and brought a ninegame winning streak into State Farm Arena — a run that certainly appeared in no jeopardy when Al Horford’s 3-pointer put Boston up 6838 with just under 4 1/2 minutes left in 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 key players sidelined by injuries.
It was the biggest comeback win for Atlanta since at least the 1997-98 season, when the NBA began keeping detailed play-by-play.
Dejounte Murray put the Hawks ahead to stay at 117116 on a reverse layup with a minute left. Jaylen Brown missed a desperation 3 with the shot clock expiring, and Hunter sealed things at 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’ve forced the Celtics to foul, he let go an open look from 26 feet.
Hunter had run through the scenario before he got the ball.
“If he passes it to me, I’m shooting,” Hunter told 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 season filled with wins, to a team that came into the night trailing them by 25 1/2 games in the Eastern Conference standings.
“We let our foot off the gas in the second half, and they got in a great 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 room.
The momentum carried over to the third quarter, which began with Atlanta ripping off 19 of the next 23 points to slice the margin to 78-75.
After the Celtics flirted several times with pulling away again, the Hawks finally claimed their first lead of the night when little-used Wesley Matthews knocked down a 3 to make it 97-96 with 9:42 remaining.
Bogdan Bogdanovic had 22 points, Murray chipped in with 19 and Vit Krejci scored 16 for the Hawks.
Brown added 24 points for the Celtics.