Lauren Williams: Hawks guard Trae Young's game-winning shot reminds everyone who he is

Lauren Williams, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Dec 7, 2024

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ATLANTA — Hawks guard Trae Young reminded everyone Friday night that he’s not the one to leave wide open.

In overtime against the Lakers, Young dribbled around the perimeter after grabbing an inbound pass from forward Jalen Johnson. With the defense hounding him, he quickly passed the ball to De’Andre Hunter, who had already made five 3-point shots. That pass shook Lakers guard Gabe Vincent, who went to help teammate Anthony Davis. That move left Young wide-open on the wing. Recognizing the double-team, Hunter quickly lobbed an overhead pass back to Young, who knocked down the 24-footer.

“I think Trae made a good read,” Hunter said. “He started to attack slightly. They both went with him. When he passed it to me, I saw them both run at me. So, it was kind of a simple play. Trae reads space. He was making shots all the night, so I was confident he would make that one, for sure.”

Young shot 5 of 13 on 3′s in the game, with three of the makes coming deep in the throes of the second-half action between the Hawks and the Lakers. He ended the night with 31 points, four rebounds, 20 assists and two steals in 42 minutes.

He became the first player in the NBA since at least the 1979-80 season to have 30-plus points and 20-plus assists while making at least five threes.

While Young opened the season shooting the ball well in the first two games, that efficiency quickly dropped off. The Hawks lost several players to injuries and leaned heavily on Young, shooting his usage rate up into the stratosphere.

Young has shot 37.5% from the field and 30.7% from deep since Oct. 27, and opposing teams have picked up on it in some ways. They still respect his shot creation for others, sending blitzes to double up Young at half-court or on the sideline to force him into errant passes.

If they’re not trapping him, they’re picking him up full-court and forcing him to expend more energy getting the Hawks into their actions.

On Friday, the Lakers did look to disrupt Young’s ability to get the Hawks organized on offense. Gabe Vincent, Cam Reddish, Anthony Davis and Max Christie played him physically when he had the ball in his hands.

But with Young’s shooting woes, the Lakers did not trust that the Hawks point guard would make a shot.

With 9:05 to play in the first quarter, Johnson kicked the ball out to Young at the top of the key. None of the Lakers, who remained focused on guarding Johnson and boxing out Capela, ran out to contest the shot in the full two seconds it took for Young to receive the pass, relax his shoulders and fire off the jumper.

Though that 3-point attempt didn’t fall, it did remind the Lakers briefly not to leave the three-time All-Star open. Young made his next three 3-point attempts.

Then he made the big one.

“I mean, my confidence comes from the work that I’ve put in over the years,” Young said after the game. “And, if you remember, early in the game, first quarter, I did the same thing. I got to steal into the deep 3. I think that was my first shot of the game, and I missed it. But I mean for me, I’ve put so much work in and so many hours and over the years that a few missed shots, even in the last few games, isn’t gonna stop me from shooting the next ones.”

Plus, with the Hawks returning to full health and having a strong bench (which ranks third in the league in scoring), a lot of pressure has been lifted from Young’s shoulders. It’s opened up more looks for him off the ball.

But the Hawks, of course, will continue to use the league’s leader in assists to their advantage. Friday’s game was the second time in nine days that Young dished 20 or more assists. He’s the only player this season to have multiple 20-plus assists games. The only other player to have at least one game with 20 or more assists is former Pelicans guard Elfrid Payton.

“If you’ve been watching, we’ve been having a lot of guys in double figures,” Young said. “So this wasn’t the first night that it’s been like this. So, we just got to continue to keep it going. Even in some of our losses, we had a lot of guys scoring. So, we just got to keep it going. And now we got guys healthy. We found a little rhythm. We got can’t get too high or too low at any moment.”

While the Hawks want to continue to take advantage of Young’s ability to dish the ball, his teammates still want him to take those shots. This season the Hawks have focused on picking each other up, playing for each other and trusting in each other.

“I am proud of the way we’re playing, but not because, not relative to any other team or any past these guys are their own team,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said. “For them to continue to build an identity that they can feel and replicate I think is the main thing.”

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