Trae Young, frustrated by not being at 100
“We’ll be right back.”
It was a defiant final message from Young, one of the rising stars of these Playoffs, after he finished with 14 points on 4-of-17 shooting in 40 minutes Saturday night in his return to action after sitting out Games 4 and 5 with a bone bruise in his right foot and sprained right ankle.
“I feel like we’ll be back, and I meant it with all my heart,” Young said.
Young, who hadn’t done any work on the court other than test his foot to try to play before each of the last three games, understandably looked winded and didn’t have his usual burst. But with Atlanta facing elimination with another loss, he did everything he could to try to extend his team’s season by another game.
“The message [to the team] was no regrets,” Hawks coach Nate McMillan said. “We don’t want to have any regrets after tonight’s game, and we left everything we have on the court.
“That’s what I saw from Trae. The fact that he hasn’t done anything on the floor since the injury, this was the first time he did anything live on the floor, so he was gassed.
“That was the message. I have no regrets at the end of this game. Empty your tank. I thought this group did.”
Young, who suffered the injuries when he inadvertently stepped on referee Sean Wright’s foot late in the third quarter of Game 3, said the bone bruise was located on his heel and impacted him every time he tried to push it, whether to shoot. a floater or attack the rim.
But after testing his foot before Game 6, a process he went through before Games 4 and 5 before deciding he couldn’t play, Young felt well enough to give it a shot.
Still, Young was a non-factor for most of the first half. He made his first bucket on a floater with 4 minutes, 56 seconds left in the first. He then made a strong move through the defense to the hoop for an easy layup after getting hit with a technical midway through the second for saying too much to veteran journeyman Eric Lewis.
He managed just 2-of-8 overall for five points in the first half, along with two assists and three turnovers. It was a trend that carried over into the second half.
“For me, not being able to be out there for my team for two games, and then tonight just wanting to fight and trying to fight as hard as I can and trying to be out there for my team, it’s definitely frustrating to not”. be healthy and not be able to give my full 100 percent,” Young said.
In the end, Young’s teammates didn’t provide much help either. As a team, Atlanta shot just 41.3 percent from the field. Outside of an impressive shooting performance by sophomore forward Cam Reddish, who scored 21 points on 6-of-7 shooting from 3-point range, the rest of the Hawks hit 6-of-26 from deep.
A cold stretch at the start of the third quarter, in particular, proved fatal for the Hawks, as the Bucks went on a 13-2 run to start the second half to open up a 15-point lead.
Atlanta spent the rest of the game trying to take that lead. The Hawks managed to pull within six with 3:41 remaining on a dunk by Hawks center Clint Capela. But Milwaukee responded with a Jrue Holiday layup, a defensive stop and a loose ball foul on the Hawks that resulted in two free throws by Khris Middleton, ending any chance for Atlanta to keep its season alive.
