The Atlanta Hawks have dropped to 15-22 on the season but Trae Young isn’t wavering.
“We got to find a way,” Young told reporters after the game. “I've been down before and found a way to fight back, and that's just what it is. We're in a difficult situation right now. We just got to figure it out. We'll get through it and I ain't got no worry about it.”
Young’s rough three-point shooting in the new calendar year continued in the Hawks’ disappointing 127-99 loss to the woeful Washington Wizards.
Atlanta also had its streak of 100-point performances snapped at 94 games.
“If I knew the answers, we would have turned it around,” Young said. “We didn't have a quarter over 30 tonight. That's just not like us. Not scoring over 100 is not like us. And it sucks saying, ‘It's just one of those nights.’ But it's one of those nights.
“We played last night and played against a fast team that runs a lot. And I guarantee knew that and wanted to push the pace, and be physical, and just push it right back to us, and it worked to their advantage tonight. …You never want it to be on the losing end of a game like this tonight. But it's part of it and um that's what we got to learn.
“Eventually we can't have these types of games.”
Hawks' Trae Young: 'We can't have these types of games'
Young noted the need for more practice time to learn Head Coach Quin Snyder’s systems, something that is notably difficult to do during the NBA season with how games are scheduled.
“Quin is such a cerebral coach and cerebral person. He needs time, he needs people in there that are going to listen and just give the effort that he says. And it's a lot. It's a lot. But it can work. It can really work, and it just takes time and it's going to take us some time. The guys believe in him.
“Practice helps. And when you have back-to-backs, it's hard to put it in a practice and even after that, it's hard to get into practice because you play a couple days later. So I know it kind of frustrates him because he can't put in his imprint and instill it in our heads as much as he wants.
“We're a young team, so you're going to have mishaps and certain things because it is complicated.”
The Hawks are tied with the Wizards and New York Knicks for the 12th-youngest roster in the league, per HispanosNBA.
They are not exactly a team of rookies and second-year players, even though they have their fair share. But they are also far from being long in the tooth. That only adds to the disappointment with the inconsistency they have shown on the floor.
“It will work,” Young said. “I really believe that. He just – we just got to continue to get better and trust this process and understand it's going to start raining eventually.”