Trae Young, Hawks handle understaffed Suns

Trae Young collected 36 points, 12 assists, and 7 rebounds to fuel the host Atlanta Hawks to a 116-107 victory over the shorthanded Phoenix Suns on Thursday, February 9 (Friday, February 10, Manila time).

Young made 10-of-18 field goals – including 5-of-8 from three-point range – and 11-of-12 from the foul line. He recorded 20 points and 12 assists in the Hawks’ 132-100 win in Phoenix on February 1.

Phoenix, which recently acquired superstar Kevin Durant from the Brooklyn Nets, had just nine players available. 

Devin Booker (groin), Cameron Payne (foot), and Landry Shamet (foot) were nursing injuries, while Mikal Bridges, Cameron Johnson, Jae Crowder, and Dario Saric were traded.

Atlanta’s Dejounte Murray tallied 19 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists while John Collins added 16 points to send Atlanta to its third win in five games.

Onyeka Okongwu had 11 points and 11 rebounds and Clint Capela pulled down 17 rebounds and scored 7 points.

Phoenix’s Josh Okogie, a former Georgia Tech standout, scored 25 points off the bench. Deandre Ayton added 23 on 10-of-15 shooting to improve to 37-of-48 (77%) over his last three games.

Ish Wainright scored 17 points and Chris Paul added 15 points and 8 assists for the Suns, who saw their three-game winning streak come to a halt.

Phoenix halved an 18-point deficit down to 56-47 at halftime before Atlanta scored 19 of the first 28 points in the third quarter. Young drained a pair of 3-pointers to highlight that surge.

The Suns scored 11 of the first 13 points of the fourth quarter to trim Atlanta’s lead to 95-86. Murray sank a pair of jumpers to stop the bleeding, and Young drained three-pointers on consecutive possessions to push the Hawks’ advantage to 107-93 with 3:47 left.

Atlanta wasn’t seriously threatened the rest of the way.

Young got off to a fast start, making 3-of-4 field goals and 4-of-5 free throws to score 11 points in the first quarter. 

Bogdan Bogdanovic’s no-look pass found Jalen Johnson for an alley-oop layup just before the buzzer to push the Hawks’ lead to 36-22 at the end of the quarter. – Rappler.com