Soaring Down South
Fansided

Atlanta Hawks’ Trae Young Scores 40+ for 2nd Time in Career in Win

By Dallin Duffy

DENVER, CO - NOVEMBER 12: Trae Young #11 of the Atlanta Hawks handles the ball during a game against the Denver Nuggets on November 12, 2019 at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Garrett Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images)
DENVER, CO - NOVEMBER 12: Trae Young #11 of the Atlanta Hawks handles the ball during a game against the Denver Nuggets on November 12, 2019 at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Garrett Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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Up in the clouds in Mile High, the Atlanta Hawks were carried by their young star to victory over a tough Nuggets squad.

Trae Young scored 42 – draining 8 of 13 from three – adding 11 assists in 41 minutes of work. It’s his first time reaching 40 in his young career, the first since the 4 OT marathon last March when he nearly reached 50, finishing with 49 in 55 minutes.

Despite a slow start (3 points in 1st quarter), Trae caught fire in Denver, shooting 12-of-16 in the final 3 periods. This was all despite the Nuggets’ defense doubling the point guard on nearly every possession. He got to 40 thanks to the Hawks keeping it just close enough to have the Nuggets continue to foul to try and get back into the game. He made 7 of 8 attempts from the line in the 4th.

It’s his 5th game reaching 30 or more on the season, and is now 6th in the league in points per game with 28.0. He’s also sitting at 4th in assists per game.

Jabari Parker, in his 5th start for Atlanta, contributed 20 points and 9 boards, while fellow big man Alex Len had his best game of the season, scoring 17 (his previous season high was 5) on 6-8 shooting.

The latter’s big night came after being benched in favor of Damian Jones, but still played more minutes than him.  We’ll see how long that benching lasts, and if Lloyd Pierce considers the move long term, perhaps featuring Len as a 6th man.

Also worth noting is De’Andre Hunter, who played 40 minutes for the first time in his career and played some really solid defense along with his 12 points.

In less cheery news, Kevin Huerter left with a shoulder injury after getting tangled up with Nikola Jokic.

As of now the Hawks haven’t made anything known publicly on his injury, but at this point I’m expecting at least a handful of games missed for the sophomore shooter.

Cam Reddish likely will slide back into the starting 5 role he held earlier while Huerter was recovering from a knee injury.

The 125-121 victory was a good one over a 7-win Nuggets team. The Hawks move to 4-6 and 1-1 on their west coast road trip.

They’ll try to improve to 5 wins when play the upstart Suns Thursday.

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