Golden State Warriors guard Gary Payton II is confident he can take on Atlanta Hawks scoring machine Trae Young.
Following his remarkable defensive display in the Warriors‘ 120-107 win over the Houston Rockets, Gary Payton II is now looking forward to continuing where he left off when the Dubs face the Hawks at Chase Center.
According to Payton II, who had four steals against the Rockets, he is “absolutely” aware of how Trae Young will come in. As early as now, he is already thinking of giving the All-Star guard a hard time with his defense.
Article Continues Below“Absolutely; I know who’s coming in here,” the 29-year-old said ahead of his matchup against Young via NBC Sports. “Stick to the game plan and try to take away things that Atlanta likes to do.”
“One stop [on the defensive end] gets everyone going, gets everyone locked in, gets everyone excited to go down and get a bucket and come back and let’s get another one and get in a good run, it just trickles down from the top to the bottom,” he added.
Some may have already assumed that Payton II has taken a few pointers from his legendary dad and 1996 NBA Defensive Player of the Year Gary Payton. But to everyone's surprise, this wasn't the case for the Warriors breakout star.
“To be honest, we really don’t talk about defense…I wasn’t offensively gifted like he was, so I had to do it on the defensive end,” Payton II told ClutchPoints. “I made sure I was great at defense, and it’s led to steals dunks, and that’s how I got my offense going.”