Atlanta Hawks: 4 Crazy Stats from Thrilling Last-Second Win vs. Bucks

Some wild statistics from a crazy game for the Atlanta Hawks against the Milwaukee Bucks.

The Atlanta Hawks played a scintillating early game (12:30 p.m. EST tip-off) against the Milwaukee Bucks, and even though Mike Budenholzer is no longer the head coach of the Atlanta Hawks, he still refuses to allow the team to tank for draft position down the end of the year.

In tonight’s road tilt for the East-leading Bucks, the following players did not play due to injury, rest or coach’s decision: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton, Malcolm Brogdon, Eric Bledsoe, Tony Snell, Nikola Mirotic and Pau Gasol.

Even with all those players out, it took a miraculous last-second tip-in/floater from Trae Young to ice the game (that’s why they call him Ice Trae, baby!):

Let’s explore a few interesting stats from what was a wild contest.

2.5

First, let’s start off with a stat for the tanking enthusiasts. There was a lot of clamoring on Twitter among Hawks Twitter about the needlessness of this victory for Atlanta. While that is certainly the case in terms of draft position, an argument could be made that building a winning culture is important for Trae Young and head coach Lloyd Pierce in his first year as the team’s coach. Also, the Mavs actually defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder meaning they remain 2.5 games behind the Hawks for the 5th spot in the tank ranks per Tankathon.com.

4

Beyond his game-winner, Trae Young produced his 4th game with over 15 assists – an astonishing feat for an undersized 20-year-old. With that 4th game, Trae joins Ben Simmons last year as the only 2 rookies over the past 18 years to produce such an impressive line.

16

In this game, Trae notched a total of 16 assists, which further underscores his astonishing passing ability as one of the best passers in the game. Heading into yesterday’s game against the Bucks, Young was 2nd in the league in total assists (602), 4th in assists per game (7.9) and 3rd in assist rate (40.1%). As always, these stats (per Basketball Reference) represent players across the entire league – not just rookies.

116

Lastly, both the Bucks and Hawks were bombing three-pointers all night long. The Hawks attempted 61 triples and the Bucks tried 55 – shattering the NBA record for most combined threes attempted in a game by teams with a total of 116. The previous record was set back in January, when the Rockets and Nets combined for 106 attempted threes in a wild overtime game.

The Atlanta Hawks only have 5 games left on the season, and the team plays next on Tuesday against the San Antonio Spurs at 8:30 p.m. EST.