Trae Young played in his first-ever playoffs series when the Atlanta Hawks took on the New York Knicks. To put it simply, and as coach Nate McMillan sent via text to Young, he is built for these situations. Considering he created history in the Knicks series, Young has started his playoffs well.
He was the driving force behind the Hawks winning the last series, being the unguardable villain of Madison Square Gardens. He was better in the away games in the series than in the home games and this is where the Hawks have managed to surprise the rest of the Eastern Conference contenders.
They are now the surprise packet of the East and have the potential to make some noise. They managed to take the first game in their second-round series against the Philadelphia 76ers. Now the Hawks can afford to lose the second game, all thanks to Young’s historic play.
The Atlanta Hawks have never had a player like Trae Young
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The Hawks had such confidence in what they wanted to do with Young, they traded back in the draft to select him. While many pundits have given this trade plenty of column inches, it appears as though the Hawks knew what they were doing.
Yes, Luka Doncic has been producing triple-doubles at a phenomenal rate, he has produced more 40 point playoff games than most players in history. What Young has done is even more impressive, and it has done something that every franchise wants, to win playoff series.
Young has scored 20 or more points in each of his first six playoff games. The only other player in the history of the NBA to do this was Lew Alcindor who played for the Milwaukee Bucks in the early 1970s. People know him today as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
So the history he has made in the past week of playoff basketball, only Michael Jordan and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar have been able to do in the history of the NBA. This shows just how special Young is and he seems to be getting better.