Top 100 moments of the 2018-19 NBA season, Part 2
20. Trae Young sets, ties and then resets new career high in 3 consecutive games
In late February, Trae Young set a new career high with 36 points and eight assists against the Houston Rockets. The Atlanta Hawks lost that game, but Young — who shot 8-for-12 from deep — was just getting started.
The very next game, Young tied his career new high with another 36 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds in an overtime win over the Minnesota Timberwolves, getting to the free throw line 17 times and making 16 of them.
But Young still wasn’t done, saving his best performance of the season for last. On March 1, Ice Trae obliterated his career high with a whopping 49 points, 16 assists and eight rebounds in a quadruple-overtime thriller against the Chicago Bulls.
49 PTS | 16 AST | 8 REB | 6 3PM@TheTraeYoung scores the most points by a rookie this season and sets an @ATLHawks rookie franchise points record in the @ATLHawks 4OT thriller! #NBARooks #TrueToAtlanta pic.twitter.com/2RH8bdCNnq
— NBA (@NBA) March 2, 2019
It wasn’t just a case of inflated stats in extra minutes either, since Young had 45 by the end of the first OT period and hit a number of clutch shots down the stretch in regulation and the first overtime to keep Atlanta in the game.
He shot 17-for-33 from the floor, 6-for-13 from downtown and 9-for-11 from the foul line, and though he and the Hawks were ultimately outdone by Zach LaVine and the Bulls, this was an epic three-game stretch that helped build a legitimate come-from-behind case for Trae Young as Rookie of the Year.