Atlanta Hawks: Top 3 individual performances from the 2018-19 NBA season
The Atlanta Hawks had a tough 2018-19 season. Head coach Lloyd Pierce lead this franchise through a 29-53 season which was 12th best in the NBA’s Eastern Conference. They showed improvement from their 2017-18 season where they finished last in the East with a record of 24-58. Their draft day trade with the Dallas Mavericks is to thank for the Hawks' 5 game improvement.
The Hawks actually drafted Luka Doncic with the 3rd pick, who is likely to be the rookie of the year. However, they sent Doncic to the Dallas Mavericks for Dallas’ 5th pick, Trae Young, and a future protected 1st round pick. Along with power forward John Collins who averaged a near double-double with 19.5ppg and 9.8rpg, the Hawks have a decent young core to build around. Even if Doncic is the Rookie of the Year in 2019, Trae Young had some brilliant moments in this season and is a prolific scoring guard who will provide the Atlanta Hawks fan base with outstanding memories over the next few years.
In this article, we will take a look at three of the best individual performance by Atlanta Hawks’ players in the 2018-19 season.
Trae Young October 21st, 2018 vs Cleveland Cavaliers:
The Cleveland Cavaliers were the Eastern Conference Champions for four consecutive years. However, when the 2018-19 season started, the Cavaliers were without superstar LeBron James who had defected from Cleveland to sign as a free agent with the Los Angeles Lakers. Cleveland still had an Eastern Conference title to defend but it became apparent early they were not the same team.
In Atlanta's third game of the season, Trae Young showed Cleveland and the NBA just how good he could be. Young shot 13/23 from the field, scored 35 points and distributed 11 assists for a double-double, outdueling his rookie counterpart Collin Sexton. Atlanta won the game by 22 points 133-111. Young was also a +19 in that contest. It was the first double-double performance of Young’s young career and a showcase of what he is capable of.