The Hawks and Mavs have one of the strangest “rivalries” in the NBA, as there isn’t much in the way of animosity on the court between any of the players, but the fans of the two teams regularly get into it because their two stars, Trae Young and Luka Doncic, were famously traded for each other on Draft night in 2018.
Both players have become All-Stars early in their careers, and the matchups between the two teams have been terrific when Young and Doncic go head-to-head. The two burgeoning stars have become friends and are highly respectful of the other, but when they play the other they certainly seem to enjoy putting on a show. On Wednesday, that was the case once again as the two met in Dallas and each had big nights. Young had 25 points, 15 assists, and 7 rebounds, while Doncic piled up another triple-double with 28 points, 10 boards, and 10 assists in what ended up being a 118-117 comeback win for Dallas.
The Hawks had a shot to win it late, but a Danilo Gallinari fading shot clanged off the iron at the buzzer. The play designed by Lloyd Pierce was not for Gallinari, who started on the weakside wing away from the play, but rotated to the ball after the initial action, where Young set a backscreen for John Collins on a rim run, got blown up. It got blown up because Willie Cauley-Stein, turning to chase Collins, ran through the smaller Young — who seemed to sell the contact by going to the ground — and the referees had it as a play on. Young was incensed by the no-call and after the game ended, ran up to the referee closest to him and blew up at him in his face.
Trae Young was HEATED after not getting a foul
pic.twitter.com/H71UEDElQg
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 11, 2021
You can at once understand why there was no call and why Young might’ve felt there should’ve been. Young definitely did take a shoulder to his grill, which will make anyone upset, but there was nothing intentional on the part of Cauley-Stein who simply turned into the screen as he went to chase Collins. Just simply by virtue of being a 6’1 guard setting a backscreen on a 7’1 center, you’re going to run the risk of getting a shoulder to your face without the center doing anything illegal.
The play, I assume, was initially for Collins — which Huerter probably could’ve tossed the lob to, but Tim Hardaway Jr. did a good job of digging and showing at the rim to make him think twice — and then if it wasn’t there, Young was going to pop out to get the ball and isolate. Instead, when Young went to the ground on the screen and Huerter didn’t throw it to Collins, it went to Plan C, which was Gallinari coming over and trying to create a game-winning shot.
Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce stuck up for Young after the game and felt there should’ve been a foul called and said he set a great screen on the play.
Lloyd Pierce didn’t hold back in saying there should’ve been a foul call on the last possession when Trae Young hit the floor.
— Brad Rowland (@BTRowland) February 11, 2021
Pierce said Young “set a great screen.”
Pierce declined to reveal what the play was, but he said it was set up to have multiple options.
— Brad Rowland (@BTRowland) February 11, 2021
As for the man who ran Young over, Cauley-Stein said he never saw Young and applauded his “sneaky” effort at trying to draw a foul.
Willie Cauley-Stein said he didn’t see Trae Young, who fell down on the final in-bounds play, but figured he was trying to draw a foul for free-throws to ice the game.
“Good try, though. That was smooth. That was sneaky.”
— Callie Caplan (@CallieCaplan) February 11, 2021