The young star of the Atlanta Haws was furious that he didn’t get a foul call on final possession of game against the Dallas Mavericks.
The Atlanta Hawks were hoping to exit Wednesday night with a two-game winning streak with a win over the Dallas Mavericks. In a tightly-contested affair, the Mavericks pulled off the 118-117 victory. But Young feels as though the Hawks were robbed of a chance to win.
In the final possession of the game, Young was run over by Mavericks center Willie Cauley-Stein on a screen attempt, ending in a failed two-pointer by Danilo Gallinari to end the game. Young thought that he would receive the foul call by the on-court officials, but that wasn’t the case. The point guard ran to the nearest referee and vented his frustrations.
Did the Mavs get away with a foul on Trae Young?
Despite Jeff Van Gundy’s take that there was little contact on the play, it did look like Young got shoved a bit on a screen that was initially set for him. Instead, Gallinari received the ball and failed to pull off a miracle. The better pass, believe it or not, might’ve been a lob to John Collins at the rim, who was open.
Yet, Young is the Hawks best player and a young star in the modern NBA. While he flops a ton and receives plenty of flak for doing so, on the final play of the game he should probably get the benefit of the doubt, unless it’s a very, very egregious offense. We’re just one day removed from Jimmy Butler’s acting job!
The other side of that coin is that Young must learn not to trust the officiating in that situation. Not every ref is comfortable making such a decision, and Young failed to get a rather borderline off-ball call. It’s not necessarily a surprise.
Instead, playing through the contact is necessary, because Young needed to find a way to get the ball in his hands on the Hawks’ final play.