« This is the one and only night I will support Boston! », says Trae Young with a smile, aware of the stakes of the meeting between Bulls and Celtics. Because the victory of the latter, as expected by the leader of the Hawks, validated the qualification of his team for the quarter-finals of the NBA Cup.
Not really expected at this stage of the competition, the Atlanta franchise hit hard this week by winning for the first time against the best team in the league, the Cavs, on Wednesday. Before doing it again, last night, at home and as part of the cup this time.
« I don't know what to say. You just have to give them credit. They were the better team. We didn't play very well in both games. They were better than us, from the first to the 15th man, better coached than us », admits defeat the coach opposite, Kenny Atkinson.
A top bench
The Hawks' victory last night was the result of a great collective performance. If Trae Young still behaved like a conductor, sometimes clumsy (21 points at 7/12 on shots, 11 assists, but 7 lost balls), he received a lot of support, notably from his men on the bench: 15 points for Onyeka Okongwu and 23 points for De'Andre Hunter.
The Hawks replacements thus outclassed those of the other camp (50 to 28). “ These difficult decisions are still relevant today », recognizes Quin Snyder on the subject of bringing this or that player off his bench, rather than starting him, perhaps thinking of the Hunter case, relegated behind the Frenchman Zaccharie Risacher.
“We have guys who have done a great job without having played recently. But it's more about how we play, it's what we have to continue to do. In this process, the guys are more and more connected, it allows us to see the things this group can do to be victorious », greets the technician.
Reference victories
And this allows his team, 7th in the East but still with a negative record (9v-11d), to enjoy a break with this NBA Cup. “ This experience that we can obtain, for young people or older people, is new for everyone. It's a competition of a different kind. Overall, it's a great competitive experience to take. These are big matches », he judges.
Matches that “ deliver what feels like playoff intensity », adds Trae Young. For the latter, this double clash against the Cavs is “ clearly two big victories for us. They are playing really well, they are at the top of the league. But our reference victory was when we won in Boston without me in an NBA Cup match. »
A surprise victory which would perfectly launch his team into the competition, before continuing against the Wizards a few days later in the same setting. “ Winning in Boston, winning there, it doesn't matter if I'm there or not, it says a lot about our team and what we have around us », term Trae Young.
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | LF | Off | Def | To | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Fte | Pts |
| Trae Young | 19 | 36.0 | 39.0 | 32.7 | 90.4 | 0.7 | 2.9 | 3.6 | 12.4 | 4.7 | 1.3 | 0.2 | 2.1 | 21.7 |
| Jalen Johnson | 19 | 36.4 | 49.5 | 35.2 | 74.6 | 1.8 | 8.4 | 10.3 | 5.3 | 3.2 | 1.4 | 1.1 | 2.1 | 20.1 |
| The other Hunter | 9 | 27.6 | 47.0 | 40.7 | 89.5 | 0.6 | 3.9 | 4.4 | 1.4 | 1.3 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 2.7 | 18.2 |
| Dyson Daniels | 18 | 33.9 | 44.1 | 31.9 | 62.1 | 1.7 | 3.4 | 5.1 | 3.1 | 1.9 | 3.1 | 1.0 | 2.8 | 13.8 |
| Bogdan Bogdanovic | 7 | 24.8 | 38.9 | 34.8 | 100.0 | 1.0 | 2.6 | 3.6 | 1.7 | 1.6 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 2.9 | 11.6 |
| Zaccharie Risacher | 20 | 24.3 | 39.8 | 27.7 | 69.6 | 1.2 | 2.5 | 3.7 | 1.4 | 1.2 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 2.3 | 11.5 |
| Clint Capela | 20 | 22.6 | 60.2 | 0.0 | 55.3 | 3.4 | 5.2 | 8.6 | 1.4 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 1.9 | 11.0 |
| Mr. Okongwu | 18 | 23.7 | 53.5 | 21.2 | 79.1 | 2.2 | 4.3 | 6.4 | 1.7 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 2.1 | 10.7 |
| Garrison Mathews | 17 | 18.2 | 45.7 | 47.4 | 88.5 | 0.2 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 1.5 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 1.6 | 8.4 |
| Larry Nance, Jr. | 9 | 15.6 | 65.1 | 63.6 | 50.0 | 1.1 | 1.3 | 2.4 | 1.2 | 0.4 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 1.2 | 7.9 |
| David Roddy | 13 | 15.4 | 57.4 | 43.5 | 84.6 | 0.3 | 2.7 | 3.0 | 1.5 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 5.8 |
| Keaton Wallace | 12 | 16.2 | 40.0 | 30.8 | 100.0 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 1.5 | 1.8 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 1.1 | 4.7 |
| Kobe Bufkin | 6 | 12.9 | 30.8 | 26.7 | 72.7 | 0.5 | 1.8 | 2.3 | 1.7 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 1.2 | 4.7 |
| Vit Krejci | 8 | 10.7 | 40.9 | 36.4 | 57.1 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 1.6 | 3.3 |
| Mouhamed Gueye | 2 | 5.7 | 25.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 |
| Dominick Barlow | 2 | 5.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
