Trae Young has scored 81 points in his last two games, but the Hawks have given up 302

Here’s the good news for the Atlanta Hawks: Trae Young, who has struggled to find his 3-point shot for most of the season, might be starting to cook a little bit. Over his last two games, Young has posted 81 points while making 13-of-24 3-pointers.

After putting up 38 points against Indiana on Tuesday, Young hit the Nets for 43 on Wednesday. Over that span, the Hawks scored a total of 299 points.

The bad news is they gave up 302.

The net result was a 1-1 record: A 157-152 loss to the Pacers, and a 147-145 overtime victory against the Nets. You might not see two wilder games this season, and Atlanta played in them both, on back-to-back nights.

After hitting some huge shots down the stretch on Tuesday, Young again came up huge in clutch time on Wednesday. It was dicey; he missed his first free throw with one second to play and the Hawks down by one, but he managed to make the second to send it to overtime, where he scored 14 points that included the ultimate game-winner.

The winning sequence:

Trae’s step-back jumper followed by a clutch block by Big O pic.twitter.com/HfucH1M3yP

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) November 23, 2023
How about the stones to pull from the logo in a two-point game in overtime?

LOGOvertime TRAE 🥶 pic.twitter.com/EY7cJozJ3O

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) November 23, 2023
Here’s the full slate of Young’s buckets.

SEASON-HIGH POINTS FOR TRAE YOUNG 🗣️

43 PTS, 9 AST, 8 3PM

Hawks got the W in an OT thriller 🔥 pic.twitter.com/48IZFfdjyp

— NBA (@NBA) November 23, 2023
While Young was efficient from 3 against the Nets (8-for-16), he did require 31 shots to get his 43 points, which goes down as his season high. Along with Dejounte Murray, Atlanta’s backcourt pumped up 52 shots.

Hey, they’ll take it. The Hawks, now 7-7 on the season, are a water-treading team if you’ve ever seen one. Playing this kind of defense is not a sustainable model, but wins are wins in the short term. Long term, the hope is that Young stays hot from 3 for an extended stretch.