Young scores 41, Murray hits go-ahead 3 because the Hawks beat the Magic 120-119 in Mexico City
MEXICO CITY — Trae Young placed on a present for almost 20,000 followers within the NBA‘s regular-season game in Mexico City.
He wouldn’t thoughts attending to do it each season.
Young scored 41 factors, then fed Dejounte Murray for a go-ahead 3-pointer with 31 seconds left to provide the Atlanta Hawks a 120-119 victory over the Orlando Magic on Thursday evening.
“I love the energy of the arena tonight, the electricity. It was fun playing here,” Young mentioned. “I know we’re obviously probably going to expand the league and expand it to a couple more cities. I mean, I’m going to be open to playing here. This is an unbelievable place to play.”
Jalen Suggs scored 21 factors and Paolo Banchero had 17, however missed a 3-pointer with 7.9 seconds remaining on Orlando’s remaining possession.
“We were trying to run the same play for Franz (Wagner). He scored on a possession before but he drew two defenders, kicked it out to me and I missed the shot,” Banchero mentioned. “We had a chance to win and we didn’t win. But it was a great game, though. Great environment.”
Young had 33 factors within the first half for Atlanta (4-3), which performed for the primary time south of the border. Jalen Johnson had 19 factors, Murray added 16 and Bogdan Bogdanovic completed with 15.
Although the Magic performed the sport because the host group, lots of the sellout crowd that got here to the Arena Ciudad the Mexico, a glass-clad state-of-the-art facility, have been sporting jerseys of Young, who lived in Lubbock, Texas, or Hawks gear and cheered loudly for the visiting group.
The environment appeared to make the gamers overlook about taking part in at an altitude of seven,350 toes above sea degree, however that didn’t final ceaselessly.
“You can definitely feel the altitude, it affected all of us,” Young mentioned. “There was a moment in the third quarter when I had to come out because the altitude got to me, I needed to get a breather.”
The Magic pulled forward 111-100 after rookie Anthony Black hit a 3-pointer from the fitting nook, however the Hawks had a 14-2 run sealed with Johnson’s driving layup to take a 114-113 lead with 4:04 left to play.
The groups exchanged leads and Wagner scored on a hook to place Orlando forward 119-117 with 43 seconds left to play. Young drove towards the basket and fired a go out to Murray behind the arc for the ultimate factors.
The Hawks constructed an 18-7 lead early within the sport after a 3 by Young, however the Magic rallied to tie it at 34 after the primary 12 minutes.
The Hawks led 73-69 on the half, with Young capturing 9 for 14 from the sphere and 11 for 11 from the free throw line.
But the Atlanta guard cooled off within the third scoring, going simply 1 for six, and Orlando closed the quarter on an 11-5 run to take a 98-93 lead into the fourth interval.
It was the league’s thirty second sport in Mexico since 1992, greater than any nation exterior the U.S. and Canada.
According to NBA metrics, there are 30 million followers within the nation and it has been talked about as a possible metropolis when, or if the league, decides to increase.
“I can´t set a specific timeline, but a main part of my job, if not the most important part of my job, is to grow this league. So it´s something to think about a lot,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver mentioned earlier than the sport.
Mexico has an NBA G League group that had a profitable first 12 months taking part in on the Arena Ciudad the Mexico. Positive suggestions from former NBA gamers who reside in Mexico City would possibly assist the town on its bid for a franchise sooner or later, however for now the one factor sure is extra common season video games.
“We´ll definitely will be back,” Silver mentioned when pressed by Mexican reporters for the probabilities of the town getting a group. “We will be back next year with at least one game, we´ll see whether it´s two games.”
UP NEXT
Hawks: Host the Miami Heat on Saturday evening after a three-game street journey
Magic: Host the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday
