It will be hard for Trae Young and Atlanta to top Tuesday’s win at Salt Lake City, but the Hawks will nonetheless look to finish their six-game road trip in style against the slumping Phoenix Suns on Thursday.
Young drained a half-court buzzer-beater to lift the Hawks over the Jazz 124-121 in the Hawks’ last game. Young’s 24 points and 20 assists helped snap Atlanta’s three-game losing streak.
Young has scored at least 20 in 10 of his last 11 games and has reached the double-digit mark in assists in 26 of 35 games this season.
“I think he’s taken a lot of pride in being efficient,” Atlanta coach Quin Snyder said of Young. “Knowing when it’s time to give the ball up and when it’s time to impress himself on the game from a scoring standpoint, that’s a growth process for him.”
As for Young’s game-winner, it wasn’t a shot the Atlanta star hadn’t taken before.
“We practice those shots growing up and even just having fun in practice,” he said. “I’m just glad I had the opportunity today to do it in a game and win it for us.”
Young’s 22.6 points per game paces Atlanta, while his 12.2 assists per game lead the league. His 427 assists are the most in the NBA by a wide margin, as Tyrese Haliburton is second with 338.
De’Andre Hunter averages 19.7 ppg, but the Hawks will be without Jalen Johnson (19.8 points, 10.1 rebounds), who will miss his third straight game with a shoulder injury.
Having lost five of its last six, Phoenix is looking to open a three-game homestand with a much-needed win. Since Dec. 15, the Suns are 2-8 and are coming off a 115-104 road loss to the lowly Charlotte Hornets on Tuesday.
The Suns got 39 points from Devin Booker and 26 from Kevin Durant, but the team connected on just 8 of 33 from 3-point range (24.2 percent) in the defeat.
On the second night of a back-to-back, Phoenix saw the Hornets finish the first half on a 26-6 run as the Suns never regained the lead.
“We’re trying to find success and do it day after day,” Suns coach Mike Budenholzer said. “We didn’t get it done tonight and we need to get it done. … The first quarter we were in a great spot and then in the second quarter we couldn’t maintain what we did in the first. It’s always a 48-minute game. We’ve got to find a way to play for 48.”
Durant’s 27.4 points per game rank fifth in the NBA entering Wednesday, while Booker’s 24.6 mark is 14th.
The Suns’ 16-19 record is the franchise’s worst through 35 games since the 2019-20 season, which was the last season Phoenix finished with a losing record and missed the postseason. Budenholzer, who beat the Suns in the 2021 NBA Finals during his tenure with the Milwaukee Bucks (2018-23), coached the Hawks from 2013-18, leading them to their first 60-win season in 2014-15.
–Field Level Media
