On Tuesday evening, the Atlanta Hawks fell to the Milwaukee Bucks by the final score of 127-121. Atlanta had many issues in the game, including everything from below-average rebounding to the challenges that stem from the second night of a back-to-back with travel against a well-rested, quality opponent. However, Atlanta's most prominent shortcoming in the game was its offense in the second half, as the Hawks struggled to only 1.02 points per possession over the final 24 minutes.
Following a very strong first half in which he scored 16 points on 13 shooting possessions to go along with five assists and only one turnover, Trae Young scuffled after halftime. The four-time All-Star guard produced only 12 points on 15 possessions in the second half and, while he did add eight assists in his 18 minutes, the poor shooting — headlined by two missed floaters in the final minutes — was costly for the Hawks.
While he was far from alone in struggles for the Hawks, Young took responsibility with his comments following the loss.
“Tonight’s game is not anybody but me,” Young said from the podium. “I got to make some more shots late in the game. I got some looks, and can’t depend on the ref to do their job. So I got to, I got to be better, and I will be.”
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The Hawks need more from Trae Young right now
As with the vast majority of games, the Hawks were better offensively in Tuesday's loss when Young was on the floor compared to when he wasn't. However, Young's recent shooting has been shaky, to say the least, and the numbers reflect that.
In his last nine games, Young is shooting just 37.4 percent from the field and 26.0 percent from 3-point range. He has not exceeded 46.4 percent from the field in any of those individual contests, and Young's last five games have been even worse, with 33.3 percent from the field and 15.4 percent from beyond the arc.
Notably, Young does not project to be a high-percentage shooter from the field, simply due to the difficulty of his shot quality. In fact, it is always more instructive to gauge Young's shooting efficiency by his true shooting percentage, as he is one of the NBA's best free throw shooters with the craft to generate free throw attempts on a regular basis. For example, Young's 51.9 percent true shooting figure in those nine games is merely below-average, rather than catastrophic, and that should be taken into heavy consideration.
Still, the Hawks need Young firing on all cylinders to meet their goals, particularly when the team is operating without four of its top 12 players, headlined by the absence of No. 2 option Jalen Johnson. Crucially, Atlanta has outscored its opponents with Young on the court in the nine-game sample referenced above, while the Hawks have been flattened (minus-17.1 net rating) in the 101 minutes without Young in the game. As such, it's not as if he's been "the problem" for the Hawks over a 3-6 stretch, but Young also isn't fully absolved.
On the whole, Young is having his least efficient shooting season (55.6 percent true shooting) since his rookie campaign, and there are myriad factors involved in that dip. For one, the Hawks have a well-documented lack of floor spacing and, for a diminutive guard who needs that space to operate, it is only logical that Young's efficiency might decline to some degree. However, Young's shooting woes are not only tied to that, especially when it comes to 32.8 percent 3-point shooting or the worst mark of his career (44 percent) on shots from floater range.
All told, Young is having a very strong season. He comfortably leads the NBA assists, and he is further lapping the field in potential assists, according to the NBA's publicly available tracking data. Atlanta's offense flows well when he plays and sinks when he doesn't. All of these statements are true, but Young was the first to raise his hand and note the shooting issues on Tuesday, and even when applying the appropriate context, it is fair to say that his recent shooting performance has lagged behind his usual standard.