Hawks Demolish Suns As Devin Booker’s Return Looms

Dejounte Murray scored 21 points, while Trae Young added 20 points and 12 assists as the Atlanta Hawks defeated the Phoenix Suns 132-100 during the Wednesday night NBA slate. Tthe Hawks improved significantly on both ends of the court after losing four of their last five games.

“We wanted to win really bad and knew it had to start on the defensive end,” Murray said. “The defense took care of the offense.”

Atlanta never trailed, jump-starting their first quarter with three 3-pointers. The Hawks never let up, leading 102-67 at the end of the third quarter and leading by 43 in the final period. With 52 of 91 shots (57.1 perent) made, including 19 of 33 (35.6 percent) 3-pointers, the Hawks had a great night. Bogdan Bogdanovic finished with 18 points.

“When you’re getting downhill, moving the ball, sharing the ball, things like that can happen,” Hawks coach Nate McMillan said. “I thought tonight we did a good job moving the ball and getting it to the open man.”

For the second time in eight games, Phoenix lost without star guard Devin Booker returning from a groin injury. Suns committed 16 turnovers that led to 31 Hawks points and made just four of 28 attempts from the 3-point line (14.3 percent), a dismal shooting performance.

“They were a lot faster then us especially in transition and we just couldn’t make a shot for whatever reason,” Suns coach Monty Williams said.

The Suns were led by Mikal Bridges’ 23 points, but he shot just 6 of 18 from the field, including just 1 of 7 on threes. Deandre Ayton had 20 points and nine rebounds.

“It felt like we were on a treadmill,” Ayton said. “It felt like we were hamsters running in one spot. The game was going too fast and we were making some points but not putting a dent into the lead.”

Atlanta used a 13-0 run in the second quarter to take a 66-47 lead into halftime. Murray led the Hawks with 15 points before the break, while Bridges had 17 for the Suns. The Suns shot 18 of 47 (38.5 percent) in the first half, including 2 of 16 (12.5 percent) from 3-point range.