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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. 



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