Trae Young took accountability after his frustrations boiled over late in the Atlanta Hawks’ 120-95 loss to the Orlando Magic in the play-in tournament, resulting in an ejection.
After the game, Hawks coach Quin Snyder told reporters that Young spoke to his Hawks teammates in the locker room and that the talented guard “owned” the fact that he needed to better control his emotions.
“I know Trae is aware of that as far as the importance of him keeping his cool,” Snyder said. “He addressed that already with our team. He’s quick to own that. But the game was out of hand at that point. But again, this is playoff basketball, there’s going to be adversity. We have to continue to handle it in a way that can power through some of that.”
And what exactly did Young say to the team?
“Yeah, I mean obviously, it’s one game,” Young told reporters. “I’m not letting it dwindle. I’m not letting people think about what I’m feeling and things like that. Obviously, I told him I was sticking up for the squad, and I’m not gonna let the refs frustrate me like that in our next game.”
“I know we gotta win or go home next game and I’m gonna be ready. I told the team I’m gonna be ready for them and we gotta take care of business.”
Young said he was frustrated by the physical play of the Magic, which he said wasn’t “necessarily basketball” at one point. The Hawks guard said he took out his frustration on the refs.
With under five minutes remaining in the already-out-of-hand game, Young threw a hard chest pass at one of the officials after making a floater, earning his first technical foul. In a bizarre and amusing sequence, Young then played keep-away from the officials as they attempted to roll the ball to the other end of the court for a free throw attempt. He thus earned his second technical foul and was ejected from the game.
The Hawks will play the winner of Wednesday’s game between the Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls on Friday in a win-or-go-home play-in tournament game that will determine the Eastern Conference’s eighth seed.
