During the regular season, Trae Young stated that the Atlanta Hawks needed to find playoff-type motivation during their disappointing season. Now that the postseason is here, Ice Trae has found motivation and caught a rhythm that has helped lift the Hawks to the playoffs as the No. 8seed.
After a slow start, much like his previous game against the Charlotte Hornets, he put together another epic performance in the second half, scoring 32 of his 38 points in a 107-101 Atlanta win. Young spearheaded the Hawks in the scoring column erasing a Cleveland halftime double-digit lead by the end of the third quarter.
Trae Young and the Hawks come storming back in the third quarter.
— ESPN (@espn) April 16, 2022
This season, the Cavaliers lost 17 games after leading by 10+ points, most in the NBA 👀 pic.twitter.com/0viGPDRyFr
Ice Trae highlighted this by knocking down a pair of three-pointers on his way to scoring Atlanta’s final 12 points. Young sparked a 17-8 Hawks run over the final 3:48 to go into the 4th quarter with an 84-all tie.
Young scored or assisted on 43 points in the second half, personally outpacing the Cavs for the final 24 minutes (40 points). The Oklahoma products performance not only punched Atlanta’s ticket to the playoffs, but he also made a little history along the way.
After dropping 32 in the second half, Trae Young became the 1st Hawks player in the last 25 seasons with 30+ points in a half of a playoff/play-in game, per @ESPNStatsInfo. https://t.co/94YIJNBhsD
— SLAM Newswire (@SLAMnewswire) April 16, 2022
“Trae has a great deal of confidence in his game, his ability, and he continued to believe,” Hawks Coach Nate McMillan said about his superstar guard, per ESPN. “I didn’t see any panic in his play. He came out in the second half, remained aggressive. Those shots started to fall, the same shots that he was taking the first half; they started to fall in the second half.”
Young talked about his mindset going into the second half after the game.
“I felt like I was letting my team down in the first half.”
— ESPN (@espn) April 16, 2022
Trae Young scored 32 points in the second half to send the Hawks to the playoffs 👏 pic.twitter.com/ybFpsjJRfs
Trae Young and the Hawks get to test their luck starting on Sunday when they take on the Heat in the first round of the playoffs.
