Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks did not leave anything to chance Saturday night against the Washington Wizards, securing a 28-point victory in D.C., 136-108. Young kept up his hot-shooting from behind the arc, shooting 5-8 from deep.
Young has shot 18-32 from three in his last three games combined, which is one of his best stretches from distance during his NBA career.
Young ended up going 9-17 overall for 26 points, chipped in 10 assists, for another double-double on the season, 6 rebounds and another two steals. He extended his streak of having a steal in every game this season. He also finished with an absolute bonkers +40 +/- rating in 30 minutes of action, a career-high for him.
Dejounte Murray struggled to shoot the ball, going 4-14 overall, and only 1-6 from three, but stuffed the stat-sheet with 10 assists, 5 rebounds and 4 assists. It was also the first time this season that Murray and Young finished with 10 assists each.
After his dismal showing against the Pacers earlier this week, De’Andre Hunter put together his second-straight strong performance. Hunter finished with 20 points, going 7-11 overall, and ended with a +21 +/-.
A scary moment for the Hawks was the departure and injury to rising-star, Jalen Johnson, who departed in the first quarter with a wrist injury. Johnson was attacking the rim, for what appeared to be a breakaway dunk, and was completely wiped out by Wizards forward, Kyle Kuzma. Johnson landed awkwardly on his wrist and between the padding of the basket. He would remain in the game to shoot his free throw’s, one-handed, and was immediately subbed out after. Johnson did return to the bench, but was ruled out for the game. It appeared he was donning some sort of brace or cast under his hoodie.
There is no official word on the severity of his injury and Hawks’ officials said they would know more Sunday or Monday. From the looks of it, Hawks’ fans should be prepared to see Johnson miss some time.
The Wizards did not put up much of a fight in this one, trailing by as many as 36. They trailed in just about every statistical category that you can and did not have a player finish with above 13 points.
Atlanta (8-7) will continue their road-trip and head to Boston to take on the Celtics. Reports have circulated that Jrue Holiday & Kristaps Porzingis will not be available for the Celtics in this one. This is the teams’ first meeting since last year’s first-round playoff match-up, and a good measuring stick game for the Hawks, against one of the best teams in the league. Tip-off for Sunday’s game will be at 6:00 p.m. from Boston’s TD Garden.
