MANILA – Atlanta Hawks used a strong fourth-quarter push to defeat Charlotte Hornets, 105-101, in the 2020-2021 NBA Season on Sunday night (Monday in the Philippines) at Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.
For the Hawks, Bogdan Bogdanovic top-scored with 32 points, including a career-best eight three-point conversions, while Clint Capela added a double-double 20 points, and 15 rebounds.
Brandon Goodwin had 17 points and eight assists. Lou Williams and Kevin Huerter contributed 13 and 10 points, respectively, for the Hawks, which improved to 29-25 after winning six of their last seven games.
Atlanta notched the win despite missing key players Trae Young, Danilo Gallinari, John Collins, De’Andre Hunter, Cam Reddish, Tony Snell, and Kris Dunn due to injuries.
The victory, however, was not walk-in-the-park for the decimated Hawks as they trail by 10 in the fourth quarter before rallying back and taking the lead at 103-101 on a basket by Williams with 58 seconds left.
The Hornets had a chance to take the lead after a defensive stop with 13.8 seconds left but Terry Rozier missed a hurried three from the right corner. Bogdanovic sealed the win for the Hawks with two free throws.
Miles Bridges finished with 23 points, while Rozier, Devonte Graham, and Brad Wanamaker added 18, 16, and 13 points, respectively, for the Hornets (27-25), which were without injured Gordon Hayward and LaMelo Ball.
Meanwhile, Boston Celtics (28-26) used a strong 31-3 scoring run bridging the third and fourth quarter as they stunned Denver Nuggets (34-19), 105-87.
Trailing 79-65, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown fueled Celtics’ uprising to take a 96-84 lead midway in the fourth before widening it further to its largest at 18 points.
Tatum finished with 28 points and 10 rebounds; Brown added 20 markers, eight boards, and two blocks; and Kemba Walker and Marcus Smart had 14 points each for the Celtics.
BOX SCORE:
ATLANTA 105 – Bogdanovic 32, Capela 20, Goodwin 17, Williams 13, Huerter 10, Hill 8, Okongwu 3, Mays 2, Knight 0.
CHARLOTTE 101 – Bridges 23, Rozier 18, Graham 16, Wanamaker 13, McDaniels 9, Washington 8, Zeller 6, Ca. Martin 4, Biyombo 2, Co. Martin 2.
QUARTERSCORES:
33-20, 52-45, 75-77, 105-101./PN
