Trae Young poured in 38 points while stuffing the stat sheet to carry the host Atlanta Hawks to a 125-120 win over the Charlotte Hornets on Friday night.
Young hit five 3-pointers (on 14 attempts), dished out 10 assists, grabbed eight rebounds and nabbed four steals. He had little time to rest, logging 41 minutes.
Miles Bridges sank a pair of free throws with 4:34 left in the game to cut Charlotte’s deficit to two. Young answered with a floater, however, and teammate Jalen Johnson converted a three-point play that put Atlanta ahead 114-107.
A triple from the Hornets’ Tre Mann made it a three-point affair with time winding down, but Johnson put the finishing touches on the victory by hitting two foul shots with 6.7 seconds to go.
The Hornets were hampered by the late loss of LaMelo Ball, who fouled out with 3:33 remaining in the fourth quarter. Ball finished with 34 points and nailed a career-high nine treys. He did, however, turn the ball over 10 times.
De’Andre Hunter supplied 24 points and seven boards for Atlanta, which also got 18 points from Dyson Daniels and 16 from Johnson. The Hawks outshot Charlotte 48.1 percent to 38.5 percent from the field.
Bridges netted 27 points, Mann chipped in 17 off the bench and Nick Richards had 12 to go along with 13 rebounds for the Hornets.
Charlotte scored eight of the final 13 points of the third quarter to pull within 88-85 entering the fourth. Mann headlined the burst with a three-point play and an additional pair of free throws.
Atlanta scored the first seven points of the game and ended up taking a 28-16 advantage into the second quarter.
Three free throws from Young and two from Garrison Mathews bumped the Hawks’ lead up to 41-26 with 8:35 left in the first half.
Ball later got Charlotte right back into the game, scoring 10 points during a 14-3 run that got the Hornets within 57-55 with 56 seconds to go.
However, Atlanta never coughed up the lead and went into the break leading 62-58.