City still emblematic and symbolic of the traditional Martin Luther King Day, Atlanta was the scene of a crazy scenario between the Hawks and the Spurs !
First, the teammates of Trae Young (36 points, 13 assists, 6 rebounds) and Jalen Johnson (16 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists, 6 interceptions) signed a perfect first half to take around thirty units in advance.
We thought the matter was already done… except that Victor Wembanyama (26 points, 13 rebounds, 5 blocks), Jeremy Sochan (23 points, 8 rebounds) and the Texans gradually restarted the machine, to reduce the gap to two possessions (-6) in the last three minutes!
Eventually, San Antonio was too short and had to lay down his arms in front of the Hawks (109-99), not without fighting in the second part of the match. A two-speed match, which had the merit of being spectacular after the break. Especially when “Wemby” set out to make a killing on Atlanta’s defense…
WHAT YOU MUST REMEMBER
– An abysmal gap in the first half. If the Hawks were able to win, it's because they quickly made the difference: +10 after three minutes, +20 after eight minutes and +30 after fifteen minutes! The suspense was quickly killed in this part with Trae Young, Jalen Johnson and others who simply massacred the dramatic Spurs over the period. Both offensively (34 points scored at 27% skill, including 18% at 3-points, and 11 turnovers) and defensively (69 points conceded at 52% skill, including 43% at 3-pts, and 36 points in the paint). Then the light gradually went out…
– A half-time to activate Victor Wembanyama. No doubt stung by Gregg Popovich's decision not to start the second half, “Wemby” returned to the floor with completely different intentions, after his first half with 0 points and 0/4 on the shoot. . More aggressive, better served under the circle and more present on the defensive rebound, in addition to continuing to be a deterrent in defense, the Frenchman contributed to relaunching the Texan machine, already propelled by the banderillas of Julian Champagnie or the activity of Jeremy Sochan. Too bad the Spurs and their pivot waited 24 minutes to get started…
– Trae Young weighs 10K. Special day for the Hawks leader who, in addition to being the main architect of this success over the Spurs to honor the memory of Martin Luther King, took the opportunity to cross the 10,000 career points mark. At 25 years and 118 days old, he therefore becomes the 10th youngest player to reach this symbolic threshold, in addition to being the 16th fastest player to achieve it (390 matches). For the record, let us point out that “Ice Trae” is only the second player after Oscar Robertson to accumulate at least 10,000 points and 3,500 assists over the first 390 games of his career.
