There was a time when Trae Young thought he owned the Miami Heat, or at least when the Atlanta Hawks guard acted that way.
That, to be precise, was during a December 2019 game, after the Hawks went up six with 59.9 seconds to play.
At that moment, Young, defiantly, swiped his arms to his side to signal to the fans at AmericanAirlines Arena that it was over, mouthing those words, as well.
It wasn’t. The Heat would rally to force overtime and then win 135-121.
No, it was not the best moment.
Many no-so-best moments would follow for Young against the Heat, creating arguably the lead narrative heading into Tuesday night’s play-in game at Kaseya Center. The winner advances to the best-of-seven opening round of the Eastern Conference playoffs against the Boston Celtics on Saturday, and the loser left to fend for itself in hosting a Friday winner-take-all game against the loser of Wednesday night’s Chicago Bulls-Toronto Raptors play-in game.
“The Trae Young narratives,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “I am aware of that.”
It’s hard not to be.
For all of Young’s scoring brilliance otherwise, the fifth-year guard has struggled mightily against the Heat over the years,
In 19 career regular-season games against the Heat, Young has averaged 21.4 points on .402 shooting, as compared to his career marks of 25.5 points on .437 shooting. The 21.4 average is second lowest against any opponent, ahead of only the 20.2 he has averaged in 10 career games against the Dallas Mavericks.
This season, with the Hawks closing 1-3 against the Heat, Young had games of 4 of 16 and 2 of 13 against the Heat, finishing the four-game season series averaging 19.8 points on .356 shooting from the field and .208 shooting on 3-pointers, with 39 assists to 21 turnovers. That’s compared to his overall season average of 26.2 points on .429 from the field and .335 on 3-pointers.
And in last season’s first-round series that the Heat won in five games, Young averaged just 15.4 points, shooting .319 from the field and .184 on 3-pointers, with 31 turnovers to just 22 made shots.
“That’s been out there,” Spoelstra said of the rehashing of such statistics.
But the teams have also changed since last season’s playoff series. In addition to the Heat losing defensive anchor P.J. Tucker to the Philadelphia 76ers in free agency, the Hawks mortgaged their future drafts to acquire Dejounte Murray from the San Antonio Spurs to balance the scoring and then brought in 3-point threat Saddiq Bey from the Detroit Pistons at February’s NBA trading deadline to further space the floor.
The upshot is that Young doesn’t necessarily have to score. For the second consecutive season, Young led the NBA in total assists, just the fourth player 24 or younger to do so, joining Chris Paul, Isiah Thomas and Oscar Robertson.
Then, just ahead of the Hawks’ two March games in Miami, there was the dismissal of Nate McMillan, who coached Atlanta in last year’s playoff series against the Heat, and hiring of former Utah Jazz coach Quin Snyder, who long has orchestrated tight games against the Heat
“Since the coaching change,” Spoelstra said, “their offense has taken a big-time jump. You have to be able to respect that.”
Just as there remains respect for Young, whose career ledger has also included 50- and 35-point games against the Heat (although nothing beyond 25 this season).
“You’re going to get his best,” Spoelstra said, “as you should expect.”
The difference Tuesday is that unlike the playoffs, only a single victory is needed to advance. And the Hawks and Young did win against the Heat in last season’s playoffs, and did win during this season’s four-game series.
“It’s not like you can expect just to come in here with an average game,” Spoelstra said of the 7:30 p.m. game on TNT. “You have teams that are not that far apart in the overall standings. And it should be competitive. And I want that to bring out the best in us.”
With Young and the Hawks underdogs again.
“The hardest teams to beat are the ones who have nothing left to lose, backs against the wall,” Heat center Bam Adebayo said. “And I feel like they’re coming in here thinking of an underdog mentality. And the things we need to do are not just Xs and Os. It’s the little stuff — ball in the air, ball on the floor, 50-50 balls, and being the more dominant team.”
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