Why was the Atlanta Hawks Dejounte Murray suspended by the NBA for Game 5 vs the Celtics?
A bad situation just became worse for the Hawks, with reports confirming that their star will be watching Game 5 against the Celtics from the sidelines.
Following his questionable behavior toward the end of Game 4, the Hawks star will now have to serve a suspension for what could be the last game of his team’s playoff run. Needless to say, he couldn’t have chosen a worse time to lose his cool.
NBA suspends Dejounte Murray for Game 5
According to an announcement from the league on Monday, Atlanta Hawks guard Dejounte Murray has been suspended for Game 5 of the team’s series against the Boston Celtics after he was judged to have made inappropriate contact with an official, as well as verbally abusing him. The incident in question occurred in the closing seconds of the game, as Murray walked off the court in defeat. A video from the arena appeared to show Murray making contact with referee Gediminas Petraitis. The Hawks player can also be seen turning back to point at and yell in the direction of someone who is not visible. He is then seen being escorted off the court by Hawks security.
To be clear, the NBA’s rules state that “any player or coach guilty of intentional physical contact with an official shall automatically be suspended without pay for one game.” To that end the league’s investigation on which we reported earlier, seems to have determined that Murray’s contact with Petraitis was in fact intentional. Incidentally, this rule was also used against the Celtics back in October when forward, Grant Williams, was suspended after he was found to have made contact with an official during what turned out to be a loss to the Chicago Bulls.
Dejounte Murray’s suspension is going to hurt Atlanta
With the Celtics now leading the series 3-1 it’s safe to say the Hawks are on the ropes. Of course, this series was always going to be a tough task against the highly favored Celtics, and with the Hawks needing to win two road games just to tie the series, it now seems impossible. That’s before considering the idea that they just lost one of their All-Star guards to suspension. Yet, we’ve got to say this won’t in any way be out of keeping with the kind of campaign that the Hawks have had, which it has to be said has been way below expectations. At any rate, it’s quite likely that Murray will be watching his team get eliminated on Tuesday night as he sits on the sidelines. The winner of the series will face the 76ers who just swept the Brooklyn Nets, so it’s probably just as well.