The Atlanta Hawks have been without Trae Young for the month of November as he recovers from a sprained MCL, but it's been no problem for the team. Since Young has been sidelined, the Hawks are 7-2 and are playing good basketball on both sides of the ball. Though it's been a collective group effort, the one bright spot has been Jalen Johnson.
On the Hawks' recent West Coast road trip, they went 4-0, and Johnson was the catalyst of their strong play, averaging 24.0 points, 12.0 rebounds, 9.3 assists, and 2.5 steals through the stretch. Those numbers led him to him the Eastern Conference Player of the Week, the first of his career.
Before their matchup against the Detroit Pistons, Johnson spoke about winning the award and how the job is not done.
“Just understanding that hard work takes you places you can’t imagine and gives you opportunities you never could’ve seen…I’m very grateful & very appreciative of the award, but there’s a lot more work to do,” Johnson said via Jameelah Johnson of ATLHawksFan.
Johnson has shown over the past few years that he can reach this type of level with his play, and with Young out, he's been able to show what he can when he has control over the offense.
Jalen Johnson is taking the next step in his game
Johnson has had some big games over the past few weeks, including a triple-double against the Utah Jazz, where he finished with 31 points, 18 rebounds, 14 assists, and seven steals. A day after the game, Johnson spoke about what has been the reason for his recent offensive surge.
“I think the main thing is I do whatever it takes to win,” Johnson said. “Whatever the game calls for me to do, I take pride in. Whether that's passing, scoring, defending, whatever it may look like. It may look different each night, but the main thing is I just wanna help my team win.”
Johnson also shared why the Hawks have been playing well as of late.
“We’re taking film session very seriously, and more importantly, we’re translating those film sessions into our next game, and we’re executing our game plans as best we can,” Johnson said. “I think that’s a big thing for us, and we just gotta continue to build off each win and focus on one game at a time.”
The Hawks have been one of the best defensive teams over this stretch, and the ball has been moving on offense, which has allowed them to get easy shots. If they can continue to do that while Young is out, they should be able to stay competitive for the rest of the month.
