Trae Young broke out of a scoring slump with a 36-point performance, including his 10,000th career point, and led the Atlanta Hawks to a 109-99 win over the visiting San Antonio Spurs on Monday, ending their two-game losing streak.
Young, who was shooting 29.3 percent over the three previous games, connected on the first six 3-point attempts and scored 29 points in the first half. He finished the game shooting 11-for-24 from the field, 6-for-11 on 3s, with 13 assists.
Young, who is 25 years and 118 days old, became the 10th-youngest player in NBA history to reach 10,000 points, passing Bob McAdoo (25 years, 137 days).
Atlanta also got 16 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and a career-high six steals from Jalen Johnson.
The Hawks improved to 22-11 overall and 20-9 at home on games played on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The Hawks swept the two-game season series with the Spurs.
San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama scored 26 points, all in the second half, with 13 rebounds. Jeremy Sochan scored 23 with eight rebounds. Julian Champagnie scored 15, matching his career-high with five 3-pointers.
After a disappointing loss to Washington on Saturday, the Hawks came out motivated and scored the first 11 points of the game. The Hawks built a 35-16 lead after one quarter and extended the lead to 69-34 at halftime.
The Spurs started all reserves in the second half and began to chip away at the deficit, closing it to 87-67 going into the final quarter. The Spurs got as close as six points on a slam by Wembanyama, but a three-point play by Johnson slowed the bleeding and allowed the Hawks to hang on.
Atlanta will play the final game of their five-game homestand on Wednesday against Orlando. San Antonio plays the second leg of its five-game road trip on Wednesday at Boston.
–Field Level Media
