The Atlanta Hawks came away with a 117-100 victory over the Detroit Pistons in their 2019-2020 NBA season debut on Thursday night at Little Caesars Arena. It was an impressive road win for Atlanta, and it was a particulary impressive performance from second-year point guard Trae Young.
Young — the fifth overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft — had a game-high 38 points (11-of-21 FG; 6-of-10 3PT; 10-of-12 FT), a game-high nine assists, seven rebounds, and had a game-best plus/minus of +17.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-9YGM46nJ8
The Oklahoma product showed off his ridiculous range with this casual three from the Pistons’ logo just shy of half-court.
He also got fouled on a three-pointer (which turned into a four-point play), and celebrated with some push-ups.
And he put the handles on display with this nasty crossover leading to an and-one.
Young averaged 19.1 points, 8.1 assists, and 3.7 rebounds in his rookie season. Look for a bump in at least the scoring department this season, to go with better overall efficiency (he had a 41.8 field goal % and 17.0 Player Efficiency Rating in 2018-19). The ability is certainly there for Young to make the jump from “good” to “star” in his sophomore campaign.
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.