Atlanta Hawks: Young’s Injury Shows Point Guard Help Needed

Tre Young Injured, Hawks Fall to the Heat

Trae Young played just 11 minutes against the Miami Heat before leaving with a sprained ankle. The good news is the injury is not believed to be serious. X-rays were negative and Young will have an MRI soon to determine the severity of the injury. Thankfully Trae is expected to be out two weeks at most.

John Collins picked up the slack scoring-wise, posting a season-best 30 points. He knocked down a career-high five shots from beyond the arch, in eight attempts. John also pulled down a team-high seven rebounds.

Jabari Parker was the only other Atlanta Hawks player to score in double figures with 12 points. Rookie wing players De’Andre Hunter and Cam Reddish struggled most from the field combining to shoot just 4/18 while missing all eight tries from downtown.

Trae Young’s offense was definitely missed. Yet it is his ability to orchestrate and direct the team, that was missed most. The team did still managed to post 28 assists against the Miami Heat despite being without their leader for most of the game.

Rookie Cam Reddish led the Atlanta Hawks in assist with six in the absence of Trae Young, but he also turned the ball over six times. DeAndre’ Bembry did good work in the game, handing out five dimes with zero turnovers.

John Collins also chipped in four assists as the offense primarily ran through him. Kevin Huerter also chipped in three assists, while playing only 19 minutes due to a restriction as he attempts to get his legs back under him.

However, the Atlanta Hawks had a difficult time adjusting initially and getting into their sets after Trae Young left the game. They were outscored by a combined 15 points in the second and third quarters, before bouncing back and winning the fourth quarter by three.

To make matters worse, the teams’ backup point guard Evan Turner missed the game with a sore Achilles. Yet if Trae Young is sidelined for a while, Turner is not the answer to run the team.

Evan is more of a point forward who has never averaged more than 5.5 assists in a season. He also hurts the spacing of the starting lineup. Teams will look to double off of a man who shoots just 29.6 percent from three for his career.

The only other point guard on the Atlanta Hawks roster is the inexperienced Tyrone Wallace. Wallace who was recently signed by the team is only a 23.7 percent shooter from a three-point range himself. He is not a reliable full-time backup point guard at this point.