Dejounte Murray addresses miraculous Hawks win over Boston Celtics

Dejounte Murray gave his side of the Atlanta Hawks' miraculous comeback win over the Boston Celtics on March 25

The Boston Celtics were up 68-38 with under five minutes left in the second quarter of their March 25 matchup with the Atlanta Hawks at the State Farm Arena, but in one of the most mindboggling performances of the season, they ended up on the wrong end of a 120-118 result.

Hawks point guard Dejounte Murray -- who set a career-high in assists with 15 to go along with 19 points, five rebounds, and three steals -- was one of the stars of the night and had one of the best vantage points to explain how Atlanta made a miraculous comeback to upset the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference.

“I think that whole first half, we weren’t controlling the things we can control,” Murray said (h/t The Atlanta Journal-Constitution). “And we came in at halftime and from my message we all were active talking but just my message to the team was just play the right way and continue to try to compete and play physical. If they’re gonna call stuff or they’re gonna let us play and I think that second half, they let us play and that changed the whole game.”

Jayson Tatum had 37/8/5 and was highly effective in a point guard role in the starting lineup, one he was tabbed to play before the team acquired Jrue Holiday in the offseason, in the first half. He'd later throw down the dunk of the night (perhaps of the season for Boston) in the fourth quarter with 3:20 left to give the Cs a lead they couldn't hold onto.

Jaylen Brown had 24 points and four rebounds in a homecoming performance but he, like Tatum, shot just 2/7 from beyond the arc.

The two teams will rematch at the State Farm Arena on March 28.