Trae Young erupts for 42 points in loss to Raptors

ATLANTA, USA –  The Toronto Raptors had to endure a furious fourth quarter comeback by the Atlanta Hawks led by its budding superstar Trae Young before holding them to win 122-117.

It was a close game in the first 3 quarters, with the Raptors holding on to an 83-82 lead.

With its second unit on the floor, the Raptors charged ahead behind a stifling defense and the exploits of Norman Powell, erupting 4-for-4 from the 3-point line. 

The visiting team was comfortably up by 21 points with 4:30 to go in the game.

“The second unit came in and did a great job. They took a big deficit to a really big lead. So, we needed all of if there in the end,” Raptors head coach Nick Nurse said of his shock troopers.

Young took control of running the Hawks offense and got his teammates involved to whittle down the lead to about 11 with 2:06 remaining.

But with the Raptors threatening to run away behind Powell’s hot hands, Young took over with some timely scoring and defensive plays to cut the lead down to 2, with less than a minute to go in the ball game.

But time wasn’t on the home team’s side as the Raptors guard made some crucial free throws to fend off the Hawks.

“I tell you all the time, whether we’re on the winning side or the losing side, the game’s never over until it’s over. We’ve been good some games finishing and sometimes, we lost the lead. We just put ourselves in such a big hole, it’s hard to come back from,” Young said after the game.

Young tallied 42 points, 6 rebounds, and a season-high 15 assists. This was his seventh time getting 40 more points in the season.

The Raptors were led by Powell with 27 points. The team also had 5 other players scoring in double-digits, with Fred Van Vleet contributing 20 points and Pascal Siakam with 18. – Rappler.com