Atlanta's Trae Young relies on assisting against Sixers on rare off-shooting night
Monday wasn't Trae's day.
As the NBA playoffs march on, Atlanta Hawks point guard Trae Young continues to make his case as the next great superstar PG. But for a while, it didn't look as if Monday's performance against the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals would help.
Young was 0-for-5 in the first quarter, 3-for-7 in the second, 3-for-9 in the third and 2-for-5 In the fourth Monday, good for an 8-for-26 shooting performance and an abysmal 30.8 field-goal percentage.
Yet still, Young got it done in other ways. He finished the day with 25 points and, most impressively, a record-breaking 18 assists. He also turned the ball over only twice and scored eight points in the fourth quarter.
And of course, the Hawks won.
On Tuesday's "Undisputed," Shannon Sharpe – mainly due to Atlanta's win and Young's prowess for passing – gave the young star an A for his performance.
"Peace up, A-town down. Youngest player ever with a 25 and 15 playoff game. … The hardest thing for a young player to do is to realize that I can contribute – I can help my team win – without scoring, especially if you are a scorer."
Scoring is indeed what Young does best. In the regular season, he averaged 25.3 points, good for 14th in the NBA. Last season, he averaged 29.6 points, fourth in the NBA.
During this year's playoffs – his first postseason appearance – he is putting up 28.3 points and has scored 30 or more four times.
He is also averaging 10.7 assists this postseason, and it was his passing that got the job done – and convinced Skip Bayless that Young didn't pitch a complete stinker, despite his poor shooting night.
"I'm gonna give him a B-, just because of the assists," Bayless said. "That's extraordinary. I watched him very closely at the University of Oklahoma. He is a gifted passer. He is right up there with Luka [Doncic] – not quite LeBron [James] – but he's got the gift."
Young's 30.8% shooting night was the worst of his young playoff career, but he isn't the only current NBA star who had a clunker of a shooting night but still led his team to victory.
Remember Game 4 of 2015 East semifinals?
LeBron James went 10-for-30 from the field but hit a buzzer-beating 3 to lift Cleveland over Chicago to tie the series 2-2. He finished with 25 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists.
How about Game 7 of the 2019 East semifinals? Kawhi Leonard scored 41 points and grabbed eight boards but went 16-for-39 from the field.
Still, he hit that epic game winner to win the series for Toronto and send the Raptors to the Eastern Conference finals.
You can even take it back a little further to when the late Kobe Bryant went 6-for-24 in Game 7 of the NBA Finals in 2010, scoring just 23 points, but grabbed 15 rebounds in the Lakers' win over Boston.
Young isn't the first and certainly won't be the last star to lay bricks for a majority of the night but still find a way to help his team win.
On to Game 5.
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