Young’s ankle, and maybe a series, turns a referee’s foot | Sports

0


[ad_1]

ATLANTA – Bad enough Milwaukee defeated Jrue Holiday and sorted out other angry deer on Trae Young in this conference finale. Now the referees are beating him up too. Because in the third game on Sunday, it was a sixth man who, if accidentally, was the key to stopping the Hawks’ star watch.

After the third quarter ended and the Hawks held a weak three-point lead, Young tore his right ankle after stepping on Referee Sean Wright’s foot. Near the sideline, Young had turned on the defensive, with Wright right behind him and out of bounds.

Young sat in disbelief for a long time before going back to the locker room to attend to him. He returned for the fourth quarter with an obvious limp and was a shadow of the player who had already scored 32 points in the first three quarters. The Hawks were surpassed in the last quarter with 30:17 – Young managed three more points – and then lost the game 113: 102.

“We were in the lead, we were doing well, and we had a lot of momentum on our side. . . just one hell of a accident, ”said Young.

An injury can be difficult to process, but twice as much when it happens in such uniquely bizarre ways.

“All of my injuries (not all of them, actually, but most of them) were due to stepping on someone’s foot,” said Young, still in disbelief after the game. “It was a difficult thing to deal with. I have to pay more attention to where people’s feet are. I guess I have to keep my eyes in the back of my mind to see the end of these referees. “

The shoulder strap visible during the Philadelphia series is gone. But now order even more ankle strap for Young. One way or another, it seems he’s got to hold this postseason together by the athletic equivalent of spit and bale wire.

This was the weak point of the insane injuries to athletic wonders from Atlanta. Thursday, it was good pitcher Mike Soroka who tore his Achilles again as he was walking into the clubhouse. And now this, Young cuts off a referee, the game isn’t about the man’s whistle, it’s about his shoes.

Perhaps it would have been understandable if Young had stumbled upon a rapper or other celebrity on the edge of the Hawks. Laze from end to end in these great games at the State Farm Arena. But that’s amazing.

Even worse Sunday for Hawks fans was Young after his last stinker in Milwaukee amid a redeeming feat. He was on a mission.

“I don’t want to have two bad games in a row,” he said. “I know it will happen sometimes. In the NBA, you play a lot of games and you will have bad nights and shooting nights. I had a terrible game two. I just didn’t want to let my teammates down like I did in game two. I wanted to play hard for her and try to recover better. “

And he bounced back. His goal was true again, as the 32 points through three quarters attested (he scored 15 on Friday in Milwaukee, however). Equally important was that he regained control of the Hawks’ offensive and only made three ball losses in the first three quarters. He had nine over the course of the second game.

“I thought he was doing a good job. He scored for us, I thought he came out aggressive, saw the ball go into the basket early this evening and I thought that gave us a spark, ”said Hawks coach Nate McMillan. “He was his old self, was really aggressive and attacked the pick and roll. When they gave him space, he was able to knock down a couple of 3s.

“I liked that he was aggressive and was trying to get up to the pace we wanted to play at.”

But Young was a racing car that drove on a plane to play in fourth place. As he described it, he was deprived of his “blow-by speed”.

Hitting a 3 early in the fourth quarter forced Young to hold on and see what he could do with the final quarter. But its only kind of neighborhood was a mirage.

“I wanted to go out and at least try,” he said. “I got out there and met my top three and everyone thinks I should be out there and at least keep fighting. That’s something I tried to keep fighting. “

McMillan, who played Young from the 8:44 mark in the fourth quarter to just 51 seconds in the game, said, “When he got out I saw he wasn’t moving well. When I pulled him out in the last few seconds, he couldn’t go back. I wanted to switch him to offense / defense and he couldn’t go back. “

It’s another quick turnaround for the Hawks and their Gimpy Guard as Game 4 is waiting for Tuesday. An MRI of the injury and a day of treatment awaits Young, whose status numbers determine whether the Hawks have a chance to make their mark on this series again.

Memo to the Hawks’ training staff: You better order a lot more tape.

© 2021 The Atlanta Journal Constitution. Visit ajc.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Copyright 2021 Tribune Content Agency.

[ad_2]

Leave A Reply

Your email address will not be published.