Trae Young drops 46 points in Hawks' win over Trail Blazers, scores 93 in last 24 hours

NBA stars simply cannot stop scoring. Atlanta Hawks point guard Trae Young, was the latest to light up the scoreboard, is currently in the midst of a ridiculous hot streak that has seen him score 93 points in the last 24 hours.

After putting up 47 points in a win over the Indiana Pacers on Sunday, Young poured in 46 points to lead the Hawks past the Trail Blazers on Monday. He shot 15-of-31 from the field and added six points and 12 rebounds as the Hawks extended their winning streak to three games.

While it's hard to expect back-to-back 40-point performances, perhaps we shouldn't have been too surprised given how Young played in the first meeting between the Hawks and Blazers this season. Back in early January, he put up a career-high 56 points and 14 assists against Portland. As a result, he's now the first player in NBA history to average 50 points and 10 assists against a single opponent during a season, per ESPN Stats and Info.

Now, the tanking Blazers aren't exactly fielding the strongest team these days, but it was still incredible to watch Young pick them apart. He is a wizard in the pick-and-roll, able to manipulate the defense and create open looks for himself or teammates seemingly at will.

On this night, though, perhaps the most impressive aspect of his performance was his dribbling skills. He had the ball on a string and was confounding Blazers defenders all night long. In particular, his pull-back crossover, where he fakes like he's making a hard drive then whips the ball back and shoots a jumper, was causing all sorts of problems.

Here he is getting Drew Eubanks with it in the first half.

And then Trendon Watford after the break.

Thanks to this scoring binge from Young, the Hawks have now won three games in a row to improve to 34-34, and are back to .500 for the first time since Dec. 15. This has been a disappointing season in Atlanta, and they are essentially locked into a spot in the play-in tournament. And if they can't catch the Toronto Raptors or Brooklyn Nets for the Nos. 7 or 8 spots, they're going to have to win two single-elimination games just to get to the playoffs.

That makes another deep playoff run unlikely, but as long as they have an elite offensive threat like Young they'll always having something of a chance.

Comments

Klay Thompson to sit out Warriors preseason games in Japan as Kerr says he needs more time to ramp-up

Klay Thompson may have returned healthy to the Golden State Warriors last season, but the scars from his two missed seasons are still quite visible. The Warriors played their first of two preseason games against the Washington Wizards on Friday and will play another on Sunday, but Warriors coach Steve Kerr said that Thompson will not be playing at all during the trip to Japan. "Just feel more comfortable giving him a little more of a ramp up," Kerr said before Friday's victory over Washington. "He's just not quite ready to play at this point just based on where, you know, we're so early in camp. We just want to be safe and make sure he gets a good ramp-up before he plays in games." Typically, so little time to ramp up wouldn't be a problem for a veteran in a preseason context. The games tend to be so low-impact and demand so few minutes out of a team's best players that they can safely jog through them. Stephen Curry and Draymond Green played 1...

Shaquille O'Neal says Dennis Rodman was his worst teammate: 'He was a great player, but he made it hard'

Shaquille O'Neal played for six franchises over a 20-year NBA career. That's a lot of teammates. Speaking on The Big Podcast with Shaq, the four-time champion and Hall of Famer revealed which one of those teammates was the worst. "Worst teammate? Dennis Rodman," O'Neal said. "He was a great player, but he made it hard. Like when you try to corral the guys together and the people above you [are] letting this one guy do whatever he wants. So we had to be there an hour before the game. He'd come in fifteen minutes before the game eating chicken and rice. While the coaches are talking, he would jump in the shower. Cold shower. Come and give you 15-20 rebounds." O'Neal played with some characters in his time. We know about his beef with Kobe Bryant, who we know wasn't always the easiest teammate to get along with, though Shaq has long expressed regret over the way he and Bryant handled their relationship as young superstars, and eventually, he ...

Kevin Durant injury update: Nets rule star out for home-and-home vs. Raptors, hopeful for return later in week

Brooklyn Nets star forward Kevin Durant is expected to return to the floor this upcoming week. Head coach Steve Nash says it just won't be against the Raptors, either Monday or Tuesday night in the team's home-and-home against Toronto. Durant has started doing more on-court work recently as he recovers from the sprained MCL he suffered in his left knee last month, and Nash is optimistic about his prognosis moving forward. The former MVP will not play on Monday night against the Toronto Raptors, however. "I think with Kevin he's been a great healer throughout his career," Nash said Saturday. "So the No. 1 thing is to get him back healthy and feeling secure in his health and his body so he can move and be free. When he's back, obviously he adds a ton to our team on both ends of the floor ... one of the greatest scorers of all time. And we also know he helps us defensively; he gives us more size and length. So he's a big miss for us, and whenever he get...

Crossover World

Search This Blog