Atlanta Hawks: Have players figured out the league’s new foul rules?
Don’t look now, but the Atlanta Hawks have now won three straight games and sit at 7-9 on the season. That may not seem like any great shakes, but they have had to claw their way out of a hole they dug themselves with their start to the campaign. Now, outside of their skid on their road trip, they are 7-3 and 6-1 at home.
We can’t take away that putrid stretch, however. And, to be honest, we shouldn’t want to. Assuming this turnaround sticks, we could be lauding this stretch for the team’s growth.
For one, John Collins has really displayed an all-around skill set.
He’s always been a high-flyer capable of filling up the stat sheet with points. But this year, in addition to crashing the glass, he’s been defending more consistently and finding teammates with regularity.
Atlanta Hawks point guard Trae Young working with (and around) league’s new foul rules
One thing that hasn’t been discussed nearly as much as it was earlier in the year is how his teammate, Trae Young, and other stars in the NBA have seemingly figured out how to function in this stricter era. At the outset of the season, as Young struggled for efficiency along with the likes of James Harden, this was a very hot topic.
Even Portland Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard took to the media to decry the new procedures. It has been a different story lately, particularly for Harden and Young who both saw their free-throw numbers greatly reduced.
The question is whether they have figured out the new rules or just a way around them.
“Come out here, playing fast, playing hard, just trying to do whatever it takes to get a win.” @TheTraeYoung x @AnnieFinberg pic.twitter.com/nsX4hM5kbE
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) November 18, 2021
Young averaged 5.3 free throws over the Hawks first 12 games this season. He went to the line at least 10 times just once in that time. He’s averaging 6.5 in the four games since, but that is largely on the strength of two games where he attempted 10 free throws apiece, including on Wednesday against the Celtics.
He only went to the line 10-plus times once in the previous 12 outings.
He’s averaged 28.3 points on over 50 percent shooting and over 45 percent from three over the Hawks last four games. Entering play on Wednesday, he was the second in the NBA with 30.2 points per game over the last six contests.
On the season, he is just 0.2 points behind his average from last year.
Harden has experienced a similar effect, averaging a little over 18 points with 4.7 free-throw attempts per game over the first 12 games of the season.
The Nets guard has averaged 26.5 points and over 10 trips to the charity stripe in the four games since.
Perhaps the public complaints from Harden, Lillard, and Young led officials to loosen up a bit or start calling things closer to how they were last season. But he hasn’t seen the overall bump in his attempts to attribute his turnaround solely on this. He’s admittedly been more aggressive, imposing his will on the game from the outset of games and looking to facilitate later on.
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At any rate, we have always contended that the rules were never going to keep Young down. We are now seeing that come to fruition and that only bodes well for the Hawks.