ATLANTA — Dejounte Murray had 22 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds, Trae Young added 34 points and 10 assists, and the Atlanta Hawks beat the New Orleans Pelicans 124-121 in overtime on Saturday night.
Clint Capela added 21 points and 19 rebounds for Atlanta, which improved to 6-3 with its second straight win.
The Pelicans dropped to 5-4 and already have three overtime losses in the first three weeks of the season.
CJ McCollum finished with 29 points, Zion Williamson scored a season-high 29 and Jonas Valanciunas had 13 points and 17 rebounds for the Pelicans, who were on the second night of a back-to-back.
Young, wearing protective goggles to protect a left eye contusion he sustained in a win at New York three nights earlier, went 9 for 26 from the field and was a big part of an up-tempo attack that outscored New Orleans 22-14 on fast-break points. Capela took an alley-oop feed from Young for a dunk that put Atlanta up 117-111 with 2:11 to go in overtime.
New Orleans pulled within one on Herb Jones’ three-point play with 2:51 to go in regulation, tied it on McCollum’s left corner 3 and took the lead on Williamson’s dunk at the 1:47 mark. A turnaround jumper by Williamson in the lane gave the Pelicans a 109-107 lead, but Murray made a 14-footer to force a 109-all tie with 4 seconds to go. Brandon Ingram’s 10-foot jumper bounced off the rim as time expired in regulation.
The Hawks went up by 10 on Young’s pair of free throws with 4:05 left in the third, but the Pelicans refused to go away, pulling within five on Larry Nance Jr.’s layup two minutes later. A straightaway 3 by McCollum made it a two-point game in the final minute of the third.
Atlanta was up 88-85 entering the fourth.
McCollum hit his first five shots from the field and had 15 points in the first half.
Atlanta was up 60-52 at halftime.
TIP-INS
Pelicans: The NBA’s No. 2 scoring team at 117.5 points per game before the start of the game, New Orleans led for just 2:02 of regulation. ... The Pelicans’ bench was outscored 25-15.
Hawks: Capela had 13 points and 10 rebounds in the first half. ... Atlanta shot 55.3% in the first two quarters. ... Collins finished with seven points and was scoreless in the first half on 0-for-2 shooting. ... The Hawks led in blocked shots 8-6.
