Atlanta Hawks: Trae Young’s ankle injury adds cruel twist to ECF
Atlanta Hawks fans understand injuries are a part of the game. They are oftentimes unavoidable and can change the direction of a franchise forever. Trae Young’s sprained ankle shouldn’t come close to the latter and may not fit the former descriptor either. What is for sure is his injury, like most, came at the worst possible time for the Hawks.
In what was an entertaining back-and-forth contest, the Hawks fell to the Bucks 113-102. Atlanta now trails Milwaukee two games to one. It’s bad enough losing at home, but the injury occurred with just 36 seconds left in the third quarter and Atlanta up three points.
Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young’s ankle injury certainly changed the entire complexion of Game 3 and could determine this series
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Young finished the night with 35 points. It was his fifth game with at least that many points this postseason as he delivered on his promise to be better ( though he had just four assists) after scoring just 15 points in the Hawks Game 2 blowout loss.
He injured himself when, while trying to make a pass that got stolen and turning to run back on defense, he stepped on official Sean Wright’s foot along the sideline.
Young went down immediately and stayed there for some time before trying to stay in. After a quick evaluation, he was taken to the locker room
He would only stay there for a short while before returning to the bench and checking back in just over three minutes into the fourth.
In the final frame, Young went 1-for-4 from the floor and was mostly stationed in the corner off the ball. He was visibly grimacing after every sudden move.
Young spoke on the injury after the game.
"“When I came back in, it was kind of sore. It made me mad I couldn’t really go as fast as I wanted to, and when I did, it hurt. So I’ve just got to get treatment and hopefully get it better for the next game.” – via Sarah K. Spencer/Atlanta Journal-Constitution"
The 6-foot-1 guard dealt with shoulder soreness earlier in the postseason but it never seemed to be too much of an issue. This injury comes at a time when most of the Hawks other injured players are coming back and they even found their groove from beyond the arc.
De’Andre Hunter is out for the season, of course.
But Cam Reddish saw the floor for the first time in four months in Game 2 and, even though he was far from efficient in this one, Bogdan Bogdanovic has looked more like himself too. He was much more aggressive in looking for his shot and continued to make good defensive plays.
Bogdanovic finished with a minus-two, but only two Hawks (Clint Capela and Kevin Huerter) were better.
Now, though, the Hawks have to hope that Young’s MRI comes back clean. Nate McMillan said he “[doesn’t] know right now” before adding, “he was obviously limping on that, and…we decided just keep him out.”
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If he does sit out what will be a must-win Game 4, things could get interesting at point guard for the Hawks.