After the Atlanta Hawks defeated the Miami Heat 116–105 in the play-in tournament game, Dejounte Murray made it clear he knew there were a lot of Hawks doubters leading up to the matchup for the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Most talking heads didn’t gave the Hawks a fighting chance to pull off the upset. In addition to being 5.5-point road underdogs, all 17 ESPN analysts picked the Heat to win prior to the contest.
The slight by the entire panel did not go unnoticed by the 2022 All-Star, who retweeted the post displaying the erroneous picks by ESPN's analysts.
Murray tweeted: "JOKES ON YOU MFS!!!! 😂😂 @espn"
The sixth-year shooting guard had a pivotal role in the win filling up the stat sheet with 18 points, five rebounds, six assists and one steal.
JOKES ON YOU MFS!!!! 😂😂 @espn https://t.co/WFuBhsVtpb
— Dejounte Murray (@DejounteMurray) April 12, 2023
In his first season with the Hawks, the former San Antonio Spurs star has teamed up with Trae Young to form one of the most potent backcourts in the NBA, with Murray averaging 20.5 points, 6.1 assists and 5.3 rebounds per game.
The Hawks, despite a disappointing 17–24 record on the road, secured the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference against Miami. Quin Snyder’s club will have to keep proving doubters wrong in the postseason, as they now advance to face a Celtics squad they went 0–3 against during the regular season and tied for the second-best home record (32–9, .780) in the East.
