The Hawks will try to keep their season alive without one of their best players Tuesday night at TD Garden.
Dejounte Murray will not be available for Atlanta in Game 5 of its first-round NBA playoff series with the Boston Celtics. Murray on Monday was suspended one game without pay for “making inappropriate contact with and verbally abusing a game official.” After the Hawks’ eight-point Game 4 loss at State Farm Arena, Murray bumped and directed words at referee Gediminas Petraitis as both teams exited the court.
The 26-year-old was not available to the media after Sunday’s contest, but he addressed the incident and his punishment Tuesday in Boston roughly seven hours before tipoff.
“At the end of the day, I’m a grown man. I hold my own and I take full responsibility for not being able to play for my teammates and the fans and the organization as a whole,” Murray told reporters, per a video tweeted by ESPN’s Coley Harvey. “At the end of the day, there’s a lot that led up to that. I think a lot of players can relate to those frustrations. With me, it’s different because before games all the refs come to me and say hello and how much respect they have for me just by knowing their names and coming to them asking politely what I can do or my teammates can do to be better. At the end of the day, I’m suspended. It’s in the past and I’m not going to sit there and be worried about it. It is what it is.”
The Celtics are a significant 13-point favorite at FanDuel Sportsbook against the Murray-less Hawks. Should Boston protect home court and eliminate Atlanta, it will move on to an Eastern Conference semifinals matchup with the Philadelphia 76ers.
