Atlanta Hawks: Trae Young’s 5 best games of the 2019-20 NBA season

2. Hawks vs Heat; February 20, 2020

The Atlanta Hawks and Miami Heat faced off four times this season, with the Heat claiming the season series 3-1. But it’s what happened in their third matchup that set the stage for Trae Young’s second-best game. After a made basket put the Hawks up 6 with 59 seconds in the fourth quarter on December 10, in American Airlines Arena, Trae Young swaggered to the bench and loudly announced, “It’s over!”

The Heat proceeded to score the next 22 points, the last six of regulation and then the first 16 of overtime. The Heat won the game 135-121 and managed to turn an overtime game into a clear-the-bench, wave-the-white-flag blowout. After the game, Jimmy Butler couldn’t resist reminding Trae Young about how wrong he was:

Which set the stage for the final Hawks vs Heat matchup of the season. On February 20, 2020 Young scored a career-high 50 points, dished out eight assists, grabbed two rebounds, swiped two steals and even came away with a block en route to victory at State Farm Arena. Young was +10 in a game the Hawks won by five points.

It wasn’t a perfect game, he coughed up seven turnovers, but his three-level efficiency in this game is the archetype for his successful career. He was 12-of-25 from the field, 8-of-15 from three and 18-of-19 from the free throw line. Young’s ability to draw fouls and knock down his floater consistently are key to his success in the lane, which in turn opens up his step-back threes and his interior passing.

This was a pivotal game for a number of reasons, not only did Young bounce back from an embarrassing loss in the previous matchup with the Heat, but he also closed out this game in impressive fashion, scoring 20 points in the fourth quarter on 6-of-12 shooting, 3-of-7 from three and 5-of-6 from the free throw line to finish the quarter +16. The Heat were up 124-119 with 1:51 seconds remaining in the game. This performance was also notable because Young looked to attack the basket, putting pressure on the Heat’s defense and the referees late in the game, rather than settling for threes as is sometimes his preference.

The only remaining question about Trae Young’s ability is whether or not he can be a number one option on a successful playoff team. The answer to that question rests in his ability to close teams out late in games and rise to the unique challenge of the more matchup-intensive playoff environment. Teams have found some success guarding Young with bigger, longer defenders late in games. He’ll need to prove he has an answer for that to be true super-star in this league. This game was a small step in that direction. And on this night, Young had the last laugh:

https://twitter.com/TheTraeYoung/status/1230717843878006784?s=20