GEORGIA – Brooklyn Nets overcame a late run by the Atlanta Hawks for a 108-107 escape in the 2022-2023 NBA Season on Wednesday night (Thursday in the Philippines) at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
Comfortably ahead at 100-92 following consecutive hits by Kyrie Irving, the Nets were stunned by a furious uprising by the Hawks to tie the score at 104-all on back-to-back treys by Bojan Bogdanovic and Aaron Holiday.
Kevin Durant knocked down back-to-back jumpers for the Nets but were countered by an inside hit from John Collins and a free throw from Dejounte Murray by the Hawks for a slim 108-107 Brooklyn lead with 21 seconds left.
The Hawks still had a chance to snatch the victory after Nets’ Irving missed his three-point attempt with nine seconds left but Murray also missed his shot attempt for Atlanta at the buzzer.
Irving finished the game with 28 points, with 15 coming in the fourth quarter, to go with eight assists and five rebounds as the Nets recorded its 10th straight victory for a 23-12 win-loss slate.
Durant fell short of triple-double with 26 markers, 16 rebounds and eight assists, Nicholas Claxton had double-double 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Patrick Mills and Ben Simmons had 12 and 10, respectively, for Brooklyn.
Murray had 24 points, nine rebounds and eight assists, John Collins and Onyeka Okongwu added 21 and 18 markers, respectively, as the Hawks dropped to 17-18.
Detroit Pistons (9-28), meanwhile, returned to their winning ways with a 121-101 domination of Orlando Magic (13-23) in an ejection-marred game at Detroit, Michigan.
Alec Burks led the way with 32 points while missing only one of his 11 shot attempts, while Saddiq Bey added 28 markers. The two Detroit top-scorers each drained six triples.
However, two members of the Pistons in Killian Hayes and Hamidou Diallo and Magic’s Moritz Wagner were ejected for being involved in “basketbrawl.”
BOX SCORE:
BROOKLYN 108 — Irving 28, Durant 26, Claxton 17, Mills 12, Simmons 10, O’Neale 7, Watanabe 4, Warren 2, Curry 2, Sumner 0.
ATLANTA 107 — Murray 24, Collins 21, Okongwu 18, Johnson 14, Bogdanovic 14, A. Holiday 10, Griffin 4, Forrest 2, J. Holiday 0.
Quarterscores: 31-30, 56-63, 83-80, 108-107./PN
