Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks were facing elimination on the road in Game 5 of their first-round playoff series against the Boston Celtics Tuesday night.
Without fellow star guard Dejounte Murray (suspended) on the court, it was not looking good for the underdog Hawks against the defending Eastern Conference champions.
Atlanta found itself down by 10 heading into the fourth quarter. Quin Snyder’s squad was then down by 13 when Jaylen Brown nailed a three-pointer with 6:10 remaining in the final stanza.
At that point, it seemed as if the Hawks’ up-and-down season and potentially Young’s tenure with the organization was about to end. The embattled guard was having none of it:
Young led the Hawks on a 23-8 run in the final six minutes of the game with the guard scoring 14 of those points himself. He was not about to let Atlanta’s season come to a conclusion inside TD Garden.
With the Hawks down 117-116 and time running out, they had one more possession to come away with a thrilling win. That’s when Trae Young pulled up from 30 feet to hit the game-winning shot with just 2.1 seconds remaining. You could hear a pin drop in Boston.
A 30-foot step back out of a set? You have to be kidding us? What an absolutely ridiculous shot from Mr. Young to send this series back to Atlanta for Game 6.
Trae Young stats (Game 5): 38 points, 4 rebounds, 13 assists, 2 steals (14-of-33 shooting)
While this was not the most efficient effort from Young, he needed to play hero ball to save the Hawks’ season and overcome the loss of Murray. That’s exactly what we saw from the star guard.
All of this comes amid rumors that the Hawks might look to trade the All-Star guard due to a perceived rift with the organization.
After leading Atlanta out of the Play-In Tournament and into the NBA Playoffs, Young has made it clear that he’s not ready to have those discussions. And while coming back from a 3-1 series deficit likely isn’t in the cards, his awe-inspiring performance drew raves from the NBA world.