The Knicks were up by 23 points in the 2nd quarter when Dejounte Murray turned on the afterburners and personally blew the Knicks off the court — he was everywhere on offense and defense. By the half the Knick lead was only 65-57 and Murray and Atlanta continued the momentum in the 3rd quarter, outscoring New York 32-10 to take a 14-point lead into the 4th.
The Knicks never got close after that — they managed to get within 10 points, but Atlanta quickly upped the lead to 20 in coasting.
A devastating turnaround and terrible loss for the Knicks.
When asked after the game what the main reason for the Knicks loss was, Jalen Brunson said two words, “Dejounte Murray.”
1. Mitch Robinson Dominated Early
The game started out great for NY — as Mitchell Robinson dominated inside — fed for multiple slam dunks off drives by RJ Barrett and later Julius Randle.
Starting off HOT on BOTH ends 🔥
shout out @23savage____ pic.twitter.com/acjwN0jBDc
— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) November 2, 2022
Mitch was ripping down boards and blocking shots and was the most dominant player on the court.
2. Knicks Rolled in the 2nd
When Mitch went out for rest, Isaiah Hartenstein picked up the slack well — passing, shooting, rebounding, and providing an inside shot-blocking presence.
PICTURE PERF PASS 🖼@Ipjh55 ➡️ @obitoppin1 pic.twitter.com/CRFOqQp52c
— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) November 3, 2022
The Knicks rolled.
Obi Toppin was hitting 3’s, Immanuel Quickley was scoring in a variety of ways, Cam Reddish was doing his thing — the Knicks looked like a 50-win team.
another TOPPIN TRIPLE ☔️ pic.twitter.com/DuMMQ3Sz50
— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) November 3, 2022
When RJ Barrett hit a 3 with 6:59 left in the quarter, the Knicks had a 51-28 lead.
3. Murray Turns Game Around in 2nd
And then DeJounte Murray went nuts. He:
- hit a 3,
- stole the ball from Jalen Brunson,
- hit another 3,
- hit a driving floater,
- hit another 3,
- assisted Clint Capella on a dunk,
- hit a pull up jumper,
- stole the ball again from Brunson,
- made a slam dunk,
- stole the ball from Randle, and
- assisted on both a Trae Young 3 and 2-pt jumper to end the period with Atlanta only down by 65-57.
Dejounte has done this roughly every 3 minutes tonight pic.twitter.com/eaS736N0Bu
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) November 3, 2022
In the 3rd, Murry continued his assist game — hitting up DeAndre Hunter for a jumper and a 3 and then assisting on an Aaron Holiday 3 and Atlanta had a 69-65 lead.
Murray finished the night with 36 points on 14-27 shooting (5-12 from 3), 4 rebounds, 9 assists, and 5 steals.
Murray looked spectacular against the Knicks in games they played against San Antonio last year — so it was surprising that San Antonio traded the 26-year-old blossoming star during the summer — albiet for 4 first-round picks. Murray is 6’4 and skinny and fast and quick on defense as well as offense.
Murray was the 29th pick of the 1st round in 2016 and has gotten better each year in the league — averaging 3.4, 8.1, 10.9, 15.7, and then 21.1 ppg last year.
But he was traded by the Spurs in June, with Jock Landale, to the Hawks for a 2023 1st round draft pick (Charlotte’s pick, top-16 protected), Atlanta’s 2025 1st round draft pick (unprotected), Atlanta’s 2027 1st round draft pick (unprotected), the right to swap first-round picks with the Hawks in 2026, and Danilo Gallinari.
4. Robinson 3 Quick Fouls in 3rd
Robinson got hit with 3 quick foul calls in the 3rd quarter — one of them very questionable — which meant he left the game with 4 fouls with 6:21 left in the 3rd quarter and the game tied at the time 71-71.
The Knicks by that time were getting stuck in mud, as Atlanta rolled past on to victory.
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