Dejounte Murray scored a career-high 41 points to lead the Atlanta Hawks to a 129-111 win over the visiting Portland Trail Blazers on Friday, handing coach Quin Snyder his first victory with his new team.
Murray, who produced his previous high of 40 at Portland on January 30, scored 23 in the first half on Friday. He finished 17-for-22 from the field, including 5-for-5 from 3-point range, and added six assists and five rebounds.
Atlanta’s Trae Young had only eight points at halftime, but came on to wind up with 23 points. He had three 3-pointers, was 8-for-8 from the foul line and contributed 11 assists and seven rebounds. The Hawks improved to 1-1 under Snyder, the former Utah Jazz head coach who was hired on Sunday.
Portland was led by Damian Lillard, who had 33 points and eight assists. Cam Reddish added 25 points, one shy of his season high, and Jeremi Grant scored 14. The Blazers has lost three in a row and dropped five of its past six.
Atlanta also got 17 points from De’Andre Hunter and 11 points and 12 rebounds for Clint Capela. The Hawks has won three of its last four games.
The Hawks led 31-19 after the first quarter and expanded the lead to 17 points on two occasions in the second quarter, the last coming with 7:01 in the half at 45-28. The Blazers trimmed the deficit to six points on a dunk by ex-Hawk Reddish with 3:13 left, but Atlanta finished strong and was up 59-49 at the half.
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Young made three 3-pointers and scored 15 points in the third quarter, helping the Hawks take a 97-76 advantage into the fourth.
The clubs split the two-game season series for the fourth year in a row, with the home team prevailing in each of those contests.
The Hawks will start a four-game road trip on Saturday at Miami. The Blazers play the second leg of its six-game road trip on Sunday in Orlando.
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