Atlanta Hawks: Trae Young Lived Up To Hype on Only National TV Game

The Atlanta Hawks played their first home game of the season in the revamped State Farm Arena, and Trae Young showed up for it in a big way – especially in the 4th quarter.

It’s been a roller coaster start to the 2018-19 season for rookie point guard Trae Young and his Atlanta Hawks.

After getting run off the floor in the team’s first two games, the Hawks and Ice Trae (new nickname recommendations invited) are coming off back-to-back victories over the Cavs and Mavs – the first of which was a 20-point massacre and the second a 26-point comeback.

In both tilts, Trae Young was integral to the success of the Atlanta Hawks. However, it was his gutsy performance against the Mavs on national television that truly served as the indicator of his future success.

For one thing, Young provided a different definition for his Ice Trae moniker throughout much of the game as he was ice-cold from the floor and finished 3 of 12 from the field (1 of 3 from downtown). While his shooting from the field was poor, he returned as a conquering hero in the 4th quarter – after teammates Kent Bazemore and DeAndre’ Bembry kept the team afloat throughout much of the 2nd and 3rd while Trae was in foul trouble.

Over the final 5:13 of regulation, Trae Young scored 12 of his 17 points – the vast majority of which came from the free-throw line, where Young finished 10 of 13 on the night.

Young was not kowtowed by the big stage down the end of the Mavericks game, though he seemed quite nervous and out of sorts at the start. He remained poised throughout, though, and managed to help the Hawks back to an improbably comeback after the Mavs raced out to a 20-point lead in the first quarter.

Trae Young’s entire repertoire was on display and though Luka Doncic, who was the other headlining rookie in this one, finished with a better overall stat line (21 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block), Young helped lead to his team to victory in fairly high-pressure minutes in the fourth – to the raucous acclaim of the home crowd in Atlanta.

The crowd also thoroughly enjoyed this spicy move Ice Trae put on Dennis Smith Jr. in the 4th:

Looking back, this is a game that no one would be upset for a young team to lose. They were down by a lot and managed to come all the way back, but falling short would have been understandable – especially for the Atlanta Hawks.

With Trae Young at the helm, perhaps those dark days of disbelieving are over for Hawks fans. Sure, it’s unreasonable to expect Young to immediately deliver a winning season to the hungry Atlanta fans, but who knows – it might not be too long before Ice Trae’s penchant for making big plays pays off in a big way.

We’re ready when he is.