Hawks vs. 76ers: Trae Young flips script on nightmare Game 7, proves superstar mettle in the nick of time

Young was 2 for 19 halfway through the fourth quarter, then he created nine points that put the game away for Atlanta

Halfway into the fourth quarter of the biggest game of his life, Trae Young was living a basketball nightmare. After becoming the breakout star of the postseason, silencing Madison Square Garden and Knicks before working over the 76ers through the first six games of the conference semifinals, he was 2 for 19 from the field with four turnovers in Game 7.  Then, after a Seth Curry 3-pointer sent the Philly crowd into a frenzy, stretching the Sixers' lead to four as the game seemed to be slipping away from an Atlanta team that was starting to self-destruct, Young got Matisse Thybulle to fly by on a pump fake and willed this midrange jumper through the net. Under any other circumstances it would've been a nothing shot.  When I say Young willed that shot in, I mean he willed it in. Ice Trae was ice cold, and not in the good way. He couldn't hit a thing. And he's not a natural midrange shooter on top of it. That shot requires a touch Young has not perfected in the way a Chris Paul or Devin Booker has. He lives beyond the arc and at the rim. When he's in between, he's looking for floaters. That shot, with Philly in ownership of all momentum and just waiting to pull away, tested every nerve in his body. And he made it.