Hawks' Trae Young drops 'house money' Kyrie Irving take after disapointing loss

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ATLANTA – The Atlanta Hawks were in a close game with the Dallas Mavericks midway into the fourth quarter, but all of that changed when Kyrie Irving took over. Without Luka Doncic and Klay Thompson, Irving scored 16 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter and led the Mavericks to a 129-119 win. On the other hand, the Hawks were fully healthy and once again lost a game that felt like they should’ve won.

After the game, Trae Young spoke about Irving’s hot fourth quarter, and what he was able to do to take down the Hawks.

“I think that anytime you’re a great scorer, it only takes one or two shots to go in to really find a rhythm,” Young said. “Playing with a lot of guys out, a lot of people would say they were playing with house money tonight, all the guys out. Klay being out and certain guys being out, Kyrie kind of took over. He got one to go. Played 41 minutes, and he was really out there after playing last night.

“You could tell that once he had one going, it didn’t matter what shot he put up. He had seen one or two go in, and when you're a very good scorer, and you see one or two go in, you easily get into a rhythm.”

The story of the Hawks season this far has been that players have their best games against them, and some of that rang to be true in this game. Spencer Dinwiddie and Jaden Hardy stepped up with the Mavericks down a few players, and the Hawks didn’t have an answer for them at times.

“I don't think any of us expect teams to come in and feel like they might have a bad night right now,” Young said. “Everybody’s shooting well, everybody’s doing well right now, so it’s definitely frustrating because you see the scouting report, you watch the film, and guys aren’t playing the way they do when they come here.”

For the Hawks, they’re going to have to play better defense regardless of who is getting hot on the opposing team, and it’s going to take a collective group effort to do so.

Hawks fall to Mavericks without their key players

The Hawks played well throughout the game, but there were still some moments where they looked out of sorts. That can be due to the team still getting acclimated with each other because of the injuries they’ve been dealing with this season, but Trae Young didn’t want to use that as an excuse when asked about the chemistry.

“I don’t like using that excuse that we need time to gel, but in reality, it could be true,” Young said. “This is [Kobe Bufkin’s] first year really being in the rotation, and now he’s back out there playing. This is [Bogdan Bogdanovic’s] third game back, so we’re still trying to figure it out, but we should still be better.”

With the Hawks on a three-game losing streak, they’re going to have to find ways to get wins by being better defensively, while still remaining consistent on offense. Their next two games are against the Cleveland Cavaliers, one of the best teams in the league with a 17-1 record. If they can at least split with them, that could help them get some much-needed momentum.

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