Last season, Trae Young made a name for himself after playing at an elite level of basketball in the playoffs. Behind Young’s heroics, the Hawks went to the Eastern Conference Finals and were only defeated by the eventual champions, the Milwaukee Bucks.
Keeping that playoff run in mind, most fans expected Young and the Hawks to play close to that level in the 2022 playoffs as well.
Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case for either Young or the Hawks. With their opponents being the number 1 seed Miami Heat, they were already the underdogs. But fans still expected the Hawks to give a tough fight to Jimmy Butler and co.
As of now, the series has been anything but close by any means. The Heat are manhandling the Hawks in each game and the biggest reason for that is the fact that they have managed to stop Young in his tracks.
Young is shooting terribly due to the smothering defense played by Heat players throughout the game. After the recent Game 4 loss, Young talked about it in the postgame conference.
“I haven’t been guarded like this … since like high school. Obviously, it’s way better competition, so it’s hard for me to score a lot more through the double teams and face guards.”
Trae, on the defensive attention:
"I haven't been guarded like this … since like high school. Obviously, it's way better competition, so it's hard for me to score a lot more through the double teams and face guards." pic.twitter.com/0Rr8ShrT02
— Kevin Chouinard (@KLChouinard) April 25, 2022
The Heat have limited Young’s entrance to the paint, which has forced the Hawks superstar to take bad shots. He addressed that issue as well in the conference by saying:
“They’re doing a great job of showing help and not letting me get into the paint. When I’m driving, if I try to drive by somebody, they’re sending a double and forcing me to kick it to my teammates. I took 11 shots and probably took a couple of forced ones at the end.”
"They're doing a great job of showing help and not letting me get into the paint. When I'm driving, if I try to drive by somebody, they're sending a double and forcing me to kick it to my teammates. I took 11 shots and probably took a couple of forced ones at the end. … (2/3)
— Chris Kirschner (@ChrisKirschner) April 25, 2022
Previously, Young said fans were overreacting after the Hawks lost Game 1 of the series. Now they are down 3-1 and it seems almost certain that the Hawks will be knocked out of the playoffs in Game 5.
Can the Hawks still make a comeback in the series? The chances are there but they are pretty slim and even a single mistake can cost the season.
