The Atlanta Hawks have once again caused a surprise in the NBA and defeated by far the best team at the moment, the Boston Celtics. The tenth-placed team in the Eastern Conference beat the leaders 123:122 (69:63, 112:112) after overtime. The Hawks had already won against the Celtics three days earlier, stopping the Celtics' run of nine wins in a row in the North American Basketball League.

Dejounte Murray became the match winner. The 27-year-old scored all of Atlanta's eleven points in overtime, hit the decisive shot in the final second and set a personal career best with a total of 44 points. Boston's best thrower was Jayson Tatum (31 points). The Hawks achieved their fourth success in a row and are now six wins ahead of the Brooklyn Nets led by basketball world champion Dennis Schröder. This means the Hawks are still on track to make it into pre-qualification for the playoffs.

In the second game on Thursday (local time), the second-best team in the Eastern Conference also had to admit defeat. The Milwaukee Bucks around superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo lost away to the New Orleans Pelicans 100:107 (45:61), and 35 points and 14 rebounds from Antetokounmpo were not enough for the Bucks to win. New Orleans' best thrower was Zion Williamson (28 points). The Pelicans are ranked one spot ahead of the fifth-place Dallas Mavericks in the West.