Trae Young bounces back with dominant performance vs. Raptors

1. Trae Young bounced back in a big way after a rough shooting night in the Hawks’ (29-31) loss to the Bulls Thursday, when he went 3-for-17 from the floor. Young had 25 points at halftime and set a career-high for field goals made in a half with 11, finishing with 41 points and tying a career-high with 17 field goals total. He was efficient, going 17-for-24 from the field (1-for-4 from 3-point range and 6-for-6 from the line), adding 11 assists for a double-double.

“I told y’all I was going to bounce back,” Young said. “I didn’t have a good shooting game in Chicago obviously. Felt like there was shot I could have made, but just felt like the legs and things weren’t there and tonight I was just focused and wanted to bounce back, for sure.”

2. This marked Young’s 22nd game with 40-plus points. Per ESPN Stats and Info, since the NBA-ABA merger (1976-77), only two players have more 40-plus point performances at 23 or younger: Michael Jordan with 31 and LeBron James with 27.

“To be honest with you, I never imagined it,” Young said of that achievement. “I always dreamed of things like this, to be a part of categories and be a part of this, with the legends, guys that played before me that I looked up to. But when the games are going on and whenever I’m practicing, I’m always thinking about my team and how we can win. And I know with the way I play and the way our team plays, I’m going to go out there and make plays. All the accolades and stats and all that stuff is going to come, but for me I’m always focused on my team and just letting the wins happen. Because if we don’t win, none of this stuff matters and nobody cares about it, especially me.”

3. Entering this game 0-2 vs. the Raptors this season, the Hawks completely turned the tables in this game to earn a much-needed win. Down by 12 at the 9:53 mark in the second quarter, the Hawks caught fire on an 18-0 run to go up by six and never trailed again. Firing on all cylinders offensively, the Hawks dominated the third quarter, 38-16, shooting 70% from the field (14-for-20) and 71.4% from 3-point range (5-for-7) to turn the game into a blowout. Even with the Atlanta giving up a 12-3 run to start the fourth quarter, it still easily closed out a comfortable win.

4. In their two previous wins vs. the Hawks, the Raptors had ample success from 3-point range, shooting 50% from beyond the arc (18-for-36) Jan. 31 and 63% (17-for-27) Feb. 4. This time, though, the Hawks limited the Raptors to 31.2% from 3-point range (10-for-32), shooting 41.9% themselves (13-for-31).

“We needed to get up and pressure the ball,” Hawks coach Nate McMillan said of the defense. “I thought we were kind of back on our heels in our last game against Chicago, and could have been just coming off the break we really didn’t have our legs, but I thought tonight we came out and those guys were connected on the defensive end of the floor. We had pressure on the ball. We had weakside defense, our bigs did a good job of being up on those screens and not allowing these guys to play downhill.”

5. The Hawks’ tough post-All Star break stretch doesn’t relent, with a game in Boston (No. 6 seed in Eastern Conference) Tuesday and hosting the Bulls (tied for No. 1 spot, recently beating the Hawks Thursday with some late-game DeMar DeRozan domination) Thursday before heading to Washington (the team directly behind Atlanta in the standings at No. 11) Friday. With the Wizards losing Saturday, the Hawks are now two games ahead of them at No. 10, the final slot for the play-in tournament. They’ve said nabbing the No. 6 seed is still a goal, but with the Celtics six games ahead, that’s probably out of reach – still, winning at as high a clip as possible down the stretch will position the Hawks better as they most likely head into the play-in tournament.

Stat of the game: 38-16 (what the Hawks won the third quarter by, turning the game into a blowout)

Star of the game: Young (had a game-high 41 points and 11 assists for a double-double)

Quotable: “He basically put that game on himself and felt that he didn’t play well and he knew that he could play better. It was one of those games where his shot wasn’t falling… I felt that he would come out very aggressive tonight. He did and really established our tempo.” (McMillan on Young bouncing back after an off night vs. the Bulls)