Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo knows Trae Young is hard to stop with his virtually limitless range. While that could be a double-edged sword for the Atlanta Hawks, it doesn't make it any less difficult handling the All-Star sharpshooter.
Young was unstoppable right from the start against the Bucks on Sunday, seemingly hungry and motivated to take down the team that denied them a chance to be in the 2021 NBA Finals. He scored 27 points in the first half alone en route to 42 points, propelling the Hawks to an easy 120-100 win over the reigning champions.
Antetokounmpo had 26 points himself, but his impact was well overshadowed by Young, who almost finished with a triple-double with eight rebounds and 10 assists.
After the contest, Antetokounmpo discussed what makes Young such a headache to play against. As the Greek Freak said it, they would want to let the Hawks guard take deep threes, but in doing so, they also give him the opportunity to motivate his team and keep the crowd roaring.
“At the end of the day, you want him to shoot those deep threes. If he miss them, nobody gets involved–we get the rebound, we go the other way. But if he makes them, he get the crowd into the game and he's feeling good now. It's kinda hard,” Antetokounmpo explained.
Indeed, if there is one thing any team doesn't want to do against the Hawks, it's to let Trae Young get his way from anywhere beyond the arc. When he's hot, it's difficult to cool and slow him down.
Giannis Antetokounmpo also made a great point: by allowing Young to shoot his logo and deep triples, they only give him confidence–which is the last thing they want from a lethal scorer.
It's certainly a costly lesson for the Bucks, though it still doesn't give a lot on how they can stop Ice Trae from torturing them the next time they meet.
From last night's @Bucks ASL postgame with @Giannis_An34, Giannis was asked about how much of a threat @TheTraeYoung is.
Here is an example of how visual ASL can be with ASL/Sports Interpreting. Examples of sports jargon from English to ASL: deep 3, floater, lob, and threat. pic.twitter.com/PKBiBlksdv
— Brice Christianson (@InterpretedByBC) November 15, 2021
Follow Us
Subscribe