Trae Young being Trae Young against the Portland Trail Blazers
I’m back again to look at another game from the 2021-22 NBA season!
This time, I wanted to cast my eyes over a matchup that took place in January, when Trae Young exploded for a career-high 56 points, and 14 assists, against the Portland Trail Blazers.
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So, I’d like to preface this post with two points.
Firstly, Young’s incredible performance did come in a loss. However, that doesn’t matter, because his game at the Moda Center in Portland was nothing short of spectacular. Secondly, a gifted scorer and shooter like Trae Young would undoubtedly put up huge numbers against Portland, because they were the worst defensive team in the league last year.
But regardless of circumstance, you’ve still got to put the ball in the basket against NBA players, and Trae’s shot chart confirms he did just that:
17-of-26 shooting, 58.3% from three-point range and 15 for 15 from the free throw line. What an offensive performance.
As the whole league knows, Trae is absurdly dangerous when running the pick and roll - that’s why he ran the most per game (14) in the NBA last season. Also, as the pick and roll ball handler, he attempted the most field goals (10.6) per game, made the most field goals (4.7) per game and scored the most points (13.6) per game. Atlanta’s offense is built around Trae Young pick and rolls, and it clearly works, as they had the second-best offensive rating in the league last year.
Heading into this game, Portland knew what the Hawks were going to do offensively, and Atlanta would have had to double down on that strategy due to the number of players they had missing.
With this in mind, Atlanta, of course, ran plenty of spread pick and rolls, with Young and Clint Capela operating the two-man game. As shooters spaced the floor, Young was handed ample driving lanes, and Capela had room to roll hard to the rim - which, in turn, opened up step-back three-pointer opportunities for Trae, as the defense began to focus on protecting the paint.
Essentially, you name it, and the pick and roll let the Hawks do it.
Atlanta’s offense was turned up to 11 when they ran Spain pick and roll, as the back screen on Capela’s man from a shooter like Kevin Huerter would cause chaos - especially when he’d fade to the three-point line (Huerter shot 38.9% from three last season). Here, it creates a wide-open lane to the basket for Trae.
Young made quick decisions all game, imperative when running the pick and roll, which always kept the Portland defense on edge. He also had to make quick decisions because of how the Trail Blazers were defending the pick and roll. Portland almost always blitzed Trae when he received a ball screen, attempting to get the ball out of his hands because, in the simplest terms, he was, and is Atlanta’s offense.
Perfectly happy to pass, Young would quickly give up the ball when he was blitzed and allow the other Hawks to play four-on-three. But I can hear you now: “That’s a win for the defense! You said they wanted to get the ball out of his hands!”
This is true, I did. The issue was that, more often than not, Trae would give the ball up, and then one pass later Atlanta would have an open shot - remember, Portland’s defense was horrendous last season.
And if Trae didn’t pass to his closest teammate when he was blitzed, he’d throw the ball over the top of the defenders’ arms. Clint Capela is an outstanding vertical spacer and lob threat, something Young knows all too well. So, because of the blitz, Trae had assists to Capela that looked like this:
Young isn’t just a deadly scorer because he can score from the halfcourt line, at the rim, and anywhere in between, it’s because he can do that alongside providing his teammates with easy shots. He not only led the league in total points (2,155) last year, but also in total assists (737). Blitzing him doesn’t work because of the ‘pick your poison’ conundrum it presents to defenses. Against Portland, he could either create a shot for a teammate, use his terrific handles to simply dribble out of trouble, reject the screen and drive, or split the defense - and with the paint as empty as it was, he had room to hit the floaters he’s so adept at, or get to the free throw line and tally up his points there.
Young also scored or assisted his teammates in transition. The Trail Blazers struggled to get back after turnovers, missed shots, or even made shots, meaning there were plenty of open Hawks players behind Portland’s defense for Trae to find. Or, he’d take the shots himself. The Blazers’ defense would allow him to waltz into a wide-open painted area, or wouldn’t pick him up past halfcourt, so Young could easily pull up for three.
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With so many Hawks players missing, an offensive scheme built around having the ball in his hands, and the fourth-highest usage percentage in the NBA, Trae Young was always going to have the chance to put up big numbers against the Portland Trail Blazers.
And Atlanta needed him to put up big numbers. The Hawks outscored the Blazers by 10 points with Trae on the floor but were outscored by 15 with him on the bench.
Yes, how the Hawks used Trae enabled him to put up numbers, but they desperately needed him out there to generate offense.
Trae Young was an All-Star and an All-NBA Team selection last season, so saying that he improved his team, and increased their chances to win, isn’t really an outlandish statement. He’s an incredible player that had a fantastic season.
But against the Blazers he wasn’t incredible or fantastic.
He was just being Trae.