The Hawks Beat The Raptors After Trae Young Threw A Lob To AJ Griffin At The Buzzer

The Atlanta Hawks and the Toronto Raptors needed overtime to decide a winner on Saturday evening. They very, very nearly needed to go to a second OT, but thanks to a perfectly designed play, some Trae Young magic, and a layup by rookie wing AJ Griffin, Atlanta was able to pick up a 124-122 win.

A Clint Capela foul with less than four seconds left in the extra frame sent OG Anunoby to the free throw line, with Toronto’s breakout star canning both of his attempts to tie things up. De’Andre Hunter inbounded the ball to Dejounte Murray, which led to Trae Young breaking up the floor. There was some confusion among the Raptors’ players, which meant Young crossed halfcourt with no one anywhere near him.

This put Anunoby in a position where he had two choices: Let Young walk into a three, or risk that Young would figure out a way to get the ball to Griffin. He chose to stop the former, which meant Young threw a lob to the former Duke standout. Griffin went up, got it, and laid it in just before the buzzer sounded.

This is a gorgeous play that capped off a 17-point night for the 16th overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft.