Trae Young’s Explosion Lead Hawks To Victory Against Cavaliers

Cleveland, Ohio- Trae Young gets a taste of stardom as he lead the Atlanta Hawks (1-2) to their first victory of the season over the Cleveland Cavaliers (0-3).

Young had a breakout game, scoring a game-high 35 points off of 13/23 shooting from the field (with six three-pointers) including 11 assist. “It feels great. I think we came out and executed coach’s plan and came out with the victory,” stated Young.

The Hawks were down by as many as 15 points and 10 by the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter, Atlanta exploded for 40 points led by Young. At the end of the half, the rookie from Oklahoma had 21 points.

“He just had command of the offense, great command of what we were doing and we were hard to guard,” said Hawks coach, Lloyd Pierce.

Atlanta made a club record 22 three-pointers and dished out a season high 32 assist overall as a team. The assist led to a balance scoring attack although Young scored 35 points.

Hawks had six players score in double-digits including Kent Bazemore who scored 23 points including 4/8 behind the arch. “We’ve been grinding. We went to practice yesterday and got a lot better and came out tonight and got a big win on the road,” said Bazemore.

The defense was a factor throughout the game collectively. Alex Len led the way with four blocks (16 points and 11 rebounds).

Rookies Omari Spellman and Kevin Huerter also made an impact in the win. Spellman scored 17 points off the bench with four three-pointers and Hurter had nine points going 3/5 from three-point range and 10 rebounds.

After the first quarter, Cleveland offense seemed out of rhythm and they never got back in the flow of the offense. They were led by Jordan Clarkson’s 19 points and Kevin Love scored 16 points and a game-high 17 rebounds.

Atlanta’s next game will be against the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday at their home opener in the newly renovated State Farm Arena.