Saying that the Miami Heat have locked down Trae Young in their playoff series is an understatement. After all, the Miami franchise has made life hard on the Atlanta Hawks star beyond just shooting the basketball.
Put simply, the Heat have isolated Young, limiting his options on the floor. That is why he has already 24 turnovers in the series and just as many assists. Even more concerning, the usually lethal Ice Trae have made just 20 baskets through four contests, per Stat Muse.
The Heat defense has held Trae Young to
24 turnovers
24 assists
20 basketsthis series. pic.twitter.com/yNFWhTJp8d
— StatMuse (@statmuse) April 25, 2022
The Hawks bowed down to the Heat on Sunday, 110-86, and have now fallen into a 3-1 hole. Trae Young was largely inefficient, going 3-of-11 from the field. He did have five assists in their latest outing, but it also came with five turnovers.
Sure enough, the key for Atlanta to win and keep their playoff hopes alive is to get Ice Trae going offensively. They can also have him to keep attacking the basket and draw fouls like he did in their Game 3 victory, but that takes a huge toll on his body. It also doesn't solve their problem on the Heat's defense.
Young acknowledged after Game 4 that the Miami defense has been really tough for him, noting that he didn't really get many clean looks to kill them with his usual long-range bombers.
“If you're watching the game, you see they have five people in the paint when I have the ball. They're doing a great job of showing help and not letting me get into the paint. When I'm driving, if I try to drive by somebody, they're sending a double and forcing me to kick it to my teammates. I took 11 shots and probably took a couple of forced ones at the end,” Young shared.
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