Trae Young admits frustration after Hawks' loss to Mavs' 'high school' strategy

What happened to the Atlanta Hawks against the Dallas Mavericks “should never” happen, according to three-time All-Star Trae Young. The Hawks saw their six-point halftime lead erased and turned into a 10-point final deficit by the end of the game. They have lost three straight and four of five now.

Young finished with 18 points, 16 assists (to 3 turnovers), 3 steals, and 2 rebounds. He shot 41.7% from the floor and 50% from beyond the arc.

However, Young was dissatisfied with the success of the Mavericks’ “high school defense.”

“To be honest with you, during the game, I think it was it was good. It's tough. We're taking a lot of 2s, we're taking a lot of mid-range shots. I hate that they played a lot of a high-school defense versus us tonight in zone, and it worked,” Young told reporters after the game on November 25.

“That should never work, going into a zone being able to stop us. So I think – I don't know. I got to go back to the film. But I think we got some good looks, great shots. It's tough whenever you're scoring 2s and they're coming down hitting threes, and so. And then we're taking tough shots and missing them. Right at the rim and we're missing them, and they coming down hitting shots from – big threes.”

“I got to go back and watch the film,” Young said. “But I feel like we got some good looks. And, obviously, we could have been better too still. But 120 is a lot of points. I don’t think that was the reason why we lost tonight.”

So why did they lose? Simply put, it was because of their defense.

After holding the Mavs to 28 points in the first quarter, the Hawks allowed 33-plus points in each frame. They were outscored 68-52 in the second half. 

Defense keys Hawks’ second-half collapse vs Kyrie Irving, Mavericks

The Hawks shot 44% from the floor and 31.6% from deep in Quarters 3 and 4, giving enough cause for concern. But they also allowed the Mavericks to shoot 60% from the floor and 52.6% from downtown.

The Hawks are allowing a league-high 39.9% clip on triples this season.

Kyrie Irving led the way, scoring 22 of his game-high 32 points in the second half. But the Mavericks had four players score 20-plus points and six in double figures.

“I think that anytime you're a great scorer, it only takes one or two shots to go in to really find a rhythm,” Young said. “There was a lot of guys out [for Dallas]. A lot of people would say they were playing with house money tonight with all the guys out. Klay [Thompson] being out and certain guys being out, late scratches, so Kai kind of really took over.

“You could tell that once he had one go in, it didn't matter what shot he put up. Some of those last shots were contested. But he had seen one or two go in, and when you're a good scorer you see one or two go in, you can easily get into a rhythm.”

And what about the random role players that go off against the Hawks on a nightly basis?

“I mean, s***, that's the plan,” Young said when asked about limiting those performances. “I don't think any of us expect teams to come in and feel like they going to have a bad night right now. Everybody's shooting well, everybody's scoring well right now. So it's definitely frustrating because you see the scouting report, you watch film, and guys aren't playing the way they do [against other teams] when they come here.

“We got to we got to force that, though. We can't just think it's just going to happen when they come in here. We got to make it happen and force them to miss more shots.

“That's on us as a defense, coaching staff as a staff to kind of maybe sometimes force other guys to beat us more. It's not just them. Us as players, we got to do a better job and stop more. We the out there on the court, too, so it's everybody. We got to be better.”

Next up, the 17-1 Cleveland Cavaliers, owners of the NBA's best 3pt rate at 41.5%, on Wednesday.