Trae Young: good at basketball.
The Hawks and Suns faced off on Tuesday night with both teams looking to get above .500. Without Jalen Johnson and De’Andre Hunter, the Hawks rolled out a starting lineup of Trae Young, Dyson Daniels, Vit Krejci, Zaccharie Risacher, and Client Capela.
Trae Young scored first for the Hawks with a corner three-pointer. He made another three from over thirty feet just a couple minutes later. The first timeout came after a Devin Booker three that made it 8-8. Young scored 10 before exiting the game for the first time. The Hawks were able to enter halftime with a 33-31 lead thanks to a buzzer-beating three from Bogdan Bogdanovic.
Bogi Buckets beats the buzzer pic.twitter.com/9MzZdjxOPz
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) January 15, 2025
Garrison Mathews was on fire, making four of his first five three point attempts. He and Young combined for seven makes on their first 10 attempts, largely contributing to the Hawks’ 43-33 start.
the Hawks went on to take a 64-56 lead at halftime. Young led the way with 20 points, Mathews scored 14, and Okongwu had 11 points to go with 7 rebounds. Booker and Durant combined for 28 on the other end.
Vit Krejci started the second half off with a three-pointer, but the Suns quickly erased their deficit and took a 72-69 lead. The Suns went on a 14-1 run before Young stopped the avalanche with a floater. Durant was up to 27 points before the end of the third, and Young met the challenge with his own 30. After falling behind, Krejci hit a three pointer to give the Hawks the lead once again going into the fourth quarter.
Daniels and Bogdanovic drilled back to back three-pointers to start the fourth quarter, giving the Hawks an eight point lead. With roughly court minutes to go the Hawks held a one possession lead. Krejci nailed another big three-pointer, and Mathews made one on the following possession to give the Hawks a 10 point lead.
The Suns followed with a five point swing as the clock ticked under two minutes. Trae Young then nailed a three-pointer marked at 36-feet in distance. The Hawks would pull away by a final score of 122-117. Young dropped 43 points, and Okongwu made history with 22 points and 21 rebounds.