The Atlanta Hawks moved on to the Eastern Conference Finals, beating the Philadelphia 76ers in seven games. Trae Young‘s performance in his first postseason is one that is changing the narrative around the third-year point guard. He is averaging 29.1 points, 10.4 assists, 2.7 rebounds, and 1.3 steals in 38.3 minutes per game
However, in the seventh game of the 76ers series, Young was defended really well. He still had 21 points, 10 assists, and three rebounds but was awful from the field, going 5-of-23 which is only 21.7. He was 2-of-11 from beyond the arc which is 18.2 percent.
He was able to get to the line with regularity, making 9-of-11 which was good for 81.8 percent. It shows that great players always find a way to influence a game. Young is not one of the greats yet, but if he keeps playing this way, then he will get there in a hurry.
So how did the Atlanta Hawks benefit from Trae Young’s poor shooting night?
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Despite the poor shooting night, Young was on the floor for 43 of the possible 48 minutes for the game. In that time he was plus-seven in the box score which shows that he is able to impact a game without shooting well. The reason for this is that the 76ers were focused on Young and did not double team Kevin Huerter.
The Maryland product had a career night with 27 points, exploiting the one-on-one matchup with Seth Curry all night. However, the 76ers did not double him for fear of what Young would do. This is where they really missed the defensive ability of Danny Green.
Huerter, John Collins, Danilo Gallinari, and Clint Capela were all able to help keep the Hawks in it with their skillsets thanks to being more open just by Young’s presence on the court. This has the impact of giving them the confidence that they can perform at this level moving forward in the playoffs, which is huge.
What this showed is that the Hawks have the players to keep them in the contest, and then Young, as their superstar, can finish the game off. This is exactly what happened in the seventh game of the series which was just stunning from a Hawks point of view.
Young had 10 points and one assist on3-of-7 shooting from the floor, 1-of-3 from deep, and 3-of-4 from the line. While Young finished the game off, the rest of the team deserves huge praise for keeping the team in it so that Young could do what he did.