Trae Young Struggles as Hawks Lose to Zach LaVine, Bulls 97-85
The Chicago Bulls snapped the Atlanta Hawks' two-game winning streak with a 97-85 triumph at State Farm Arena on Saturday night.
Zach LaVine paced the Bulls with 27 points as he dropped at least 20 for the sixth straight game to open the season. Trae Young, meanwhile, struggled mightily and finished with 13 points on 3-of-12 shooting (0-of-6 from three), four assists, two steals and five turnovers.
Trae Young Needs to Be Consistently Assertive
Young's first four NBA games were a sight to behold.
The rookie averaged 21.5 points, and he regularly hunted for his shot as he averaged 16.8 field-goal attempts a night over that span. And even when his shot wasn't falling, he was determined to knife into the paint and initiate contact to facilitate trips to the free-throw line.
Just look at Wednesday's win over the Dallas Mavericks: Although Young missed nine of his 12 looks from the floor, he attempted 13 free throws and drilled 10 of them to finish with 17 points.
On Saturday, that assertiveness was nowhere to be found.
Young constantly looked to defer first, and he didn't try to initiate one-man parades to the rim against the NBA's second-least efficient defense, per NBA.com. In fact, eight of his 12 field-goal attempts came outside the paint.
Without a determined mindset, Young sat back and tried to create. The result: four assists compared to five giveaways.
However, none of that is a serious cause for concern.
Young is going to hit speed bumps galore throughout his first NBA season, and Saturday's outing was likely more of a blip on the radar than the start of some sort of concerning trend.
Expect him to bounce back with aplomb in short order.
What's Next?
Young and the Hawks will head out for a quick two-game road trip that features matchups against the Philadelphia 76ers (Monday) and Cleveland Cavaliers (Tuesday). Chicago will return to United Center on Monday for a meeting with the Golden State Warriors.
