Trae Young went to the next level in the playoffs last season, absolutely demolishing the New York Knicks in his first playoff series and then going on to lead his Atlanta Hawks team to the Eastern Conference Finals. Young averaged nearly 29 points per game to go along with 9.5 assists, establishing himself as a true superstar and elite playoff performer.
However, that has seemingly deserted him this season as the Hawks try to contend with the Miami Heat. The Heat are heavily favored as the first seed, but what has caught the eye is how ineffective Young has been in these games. His averages over the first 4 games, in which the Hawks find themselves down 3-1 and on the brink of elimination, are 16.5 points and 6 assists per game. He has even spoken about the tough defense Miami is playing on him.
And he has been outshone by Kevin Knox in two of those games, a player that came over in the Cam Reddish trade and wasn’t expected to have any impact on the games whatsoever. As pointed out by NBA fan SkwahSkwah on Reddit, in 9 minutes of play in the whole series, Knox has managed more points than Young in two games.
In Game 1, Knox had 10 points in 4:58 minutes on the floor, while Young struggled with just 8 points in almost 29 minutes of playing time. And in Game 4, Knox managed 12, while Young was just able to get to 9 despite playing over 35 minutes. The two are defended differently and have different responsibilities, but that is still a staggering stat, one that doesn’t bode too well for the Hawks.
This isn’t to imply that Knox is somehow better than Young or anything of the sort, but the fact remains that Young needs to step up with elimination on the line if he doesn’t wish for the narrative around his playoff performances to change. Averaging under 20 points in a gentleman’s sweep isn’t a good look for any player that is looking to cement their position as a superstar in the league.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5yNGXjgn7E
