Atlanta Hawks: Trae Young is Thriving in the 4th Quarter
By Dallin Duffy
Taking a look at Atlanta Hawks’ Trae Young’s performance in the fourth quarter, and taking a deep statistical dive to see how he is thriving in the final 12 minutes.
A few weeks ago, the Soaring Down South crew came together to decide a nickname for Atlanta Hawks rookie Trae Young. Thanks to Quavo and the Migos, Hawks fans have taken off and run with “Ice Trae,” which is great. Thanks to his play recently however, we might need to start calling him Mr. Fourth Quarter.
The eye test has been up and down on Young all season, but diving in statistically, you can see how he is flourishing in the 4th.
Young is averaging 18.5 points per game, second among rookies, and is getting a good majority of that scoring in the second half. He’s technically been better in the third quarter, scoring 5.5 on average compared to 5.1 in the final period, but his fourth quarter splits are more impressive in context.
In the final 12 minutes, Young has put up 5.1 a game, also 2nd among rookies and tied with Jeremy Lin for most on the Hawks, with Lin getting most of his points during garbage time in losses. The rookie also leads the Hawks in 4th quarter minutes, free throws, usage percentage and field goal attempts — all pretty impressive for a rookie.