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Trae Young knows how to make winning plays. 

Midway through the fourth quarter in the Hawks' 129-127 win over the Philadelphia 76ers, James Ennis shot a three from the left corner. The shot missed, and Joel Embiid lined up to make a rebound on the opposite side of the rim. But as the 7-foot center took a step back to track the ball, Young stepped in behind him to jump for the same rebound. Sensing competition, Embiid tried to tap the ball back to a teammate but bumped it further than he expected, and the 76ers lost the ball out of bounds.Young, showing the competitive drive to compete with someone who could reach at least a foot higher than he could, made the winning play. Thirty minutes later, he made the literal winning play. With 3.5 seconds left in a tie game, Young gathered an inbounds pass, drove hard right to get an angle for a shot, and lofted a floater over the defense for the win.

"I knew I had a little bit of time where I could get a quick couple of dribbles and then maybe a move before I needed to shoot the ball," Young said. "I just wanted to get to my strong suit and get to my pull-up, that mid-range floater I have.”

For Young, the floater is a key element to counterbalance the other things he does well. He is a transcendental passer who ranks second in the NBA in total assists at age 20. He can hit logo-range three-point shots better than anyone not named Steph Curry. But when defenses set up their schemes and pick-and-roll coverages in a way that takes away those things while enticing him to drive to the rim, he needs to be able to have finishing options on those drives. Right now, and perhaps into the future, the floater is that best option for the 6-foot-2 guard."For any little guy that gets in the paint, you have to have that," head coach Lloyd Pierce said. "I call it 'solutions'. You have to have different solutions."Young ranks near the top of the league in terms of floater attempts and successfully made floaters with 113 field goals on floaters in 237 attempts. Only Mike Conley, Jr. of the Memphis Grizzlies has more. Below is a list of the nine NBA players who have attempted 150 or more floaters in the 2018-19 season (through games played Mar. 23).[[{"fid":"124857","view_mode":"default","fields":{"format":"default","alignment":""},"link_text":null,"type":"media","field_deltas":{"1":{"format":"default","alignment":""}},"attributes":{"height":"298","width":"515","style":"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;","class":"media-element file-default","data-delta":"1"}}]]Young has converted the shot at a solid 47.7 percent clip for the season, and one good bit of news for Hawks fans is that that number has trended upward since the first couple of months of the season. On his way to last week's Eastern Conference Player of the Week award, Young scored a combined 55 points in a pair of wins over Utah and Philadelphia, two teams that feature top-10 shot blockers at center: Rudy Gobert and Joel Embiid."JoJo has a big presence in the paint," Young said of Embiid. "We talked about it last game with Rudy in the paint. Both those guys make you think about your floater and your shot and whether you can get all the way to the rim for your layups. For me, I knew I needed to have my float game ready."While Young's game-winning floater helped seal an impressive win over the 76ers, who entered State Farm Arena on a six-game winning streak, it isn't a shot for every situation, per Pierce. It doesn't have the mathematical edge of a dunk, an open corner three, or a free throw. But in the search for motion and balance in the offense, it remains a shot that has a proper time and place. Pierce, who spent two years in Memphis as an assistant coach early in Conley's career there, liked the situation surrounding the game-winner. "That one was the right shot," Pierce said. "He has got size and length (in front of him from the 76ers defense). If he goes any further, Joel is at the basket. He has Jimmy (Butler) on his hip. He was able to get there before Jimmy could square him or use his athleticism. Jimmy was basically defenseless at that point. Perfect shot, perfect timing."Young isn't done honing his craft. And at 20 years old, it seems perfectly reasonable to expect him to get better floating a basketball over defenses and into nets."It's something that I worked on a lot in the offseason," Young said, "and I'm going to continue to work on it coming up (this summer). You have definitely have got to have it to be a high-level point guard."Young already has a floater, and he already is a high-level point guard. Developing it further will take him another notch upward.

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Trae Young's Floater Key Element To His On-Court Success

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Hawks Start Strong But Rockets Pick Up Their Game Late For The Win

ATLANTA - The Atlanta Hawks Basketball Club has signed forward B.J. Johnson to a 10-day contract, it was announced today.

Johnson has played in 38 games (31 starts) with the Lakeland Magic of the NBA G League, averaging 14.9 points, 5.1 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.4 steals in 29.8 minutes (.476 FG%, .433 3FG%, .838 FT%).

Undrafted in 2018, Johnson played in the 2018 Summer League with the Charlotte Hornets before signing an Exhibit 10 contract with the Orlando Magic on September 5, 2018. After being waived on October 10, 2018, Johnson joined Lakeland.

A native of the Philadelphia, PA area, Johnson attended high school at Lower Merion (Ardmore, PA) before beginning his collegiate career at Syracuse. He transferred to La Salle for his final two seasons, and as a senior in 2017-18, averaged 20.8 points, 8.3 rebounds and 1.3 steals in 35.2 minutes (.446 FG%, .359 3FG%, .869 FT%).

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Hawks Sign B.J. Johnson to 10-Day Contract

ATLANTA – Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young was named the Kia NBA Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month for January, it was announced today. The first-year guard from the University of Oklahoma previously won the award for contests played in November, making him the first Hawks player to receive multiple Rookie of the Month honors since Al Horford during the 2007-08 season (Nov., Feb., March).

Young led all first-year players in the East with 18.7 points and 7.2 assists per game in January, becoming the first rookie to average at least 18.0 points and 7.0 assists in 10-or-more games in any month since John Wall in March 2011. The No. 5 overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, Young recorded the four highest single-game assist totals of the month among Eastern Conference rookies and compiled five-of-the-top-10 single-game scoring totals on his way to outscoring his nearest conference classmate by more than five points per game.

On Jan. 15, Young finished a 142-126 victory over Oklahoma City with 24 points and 11 assists, becoming the youngest player (20 years, 118 days) with six 20-point/10-assist games in a single season since LeBron James in 2005 (20 years, 20 days).

From Jan. 26-28, Young became the first NBA rookie to record two consecutive contests with at least 26 points, 10 field goals made and eight assists since Stephen Curry in 2010, per the Elias Sports Bureau. Young’s efforts established him as the youngest NBA player with back-to-back games with those minimums since LeBron James (20 years, 33 days) in 2005.

From Jan. 26-30, Young became the second Atlanta player ever to record three consecutive contests with at least 23 points and eight assists, and the first rookie to compile three straight games with at least 23 points and eight assists since Darren Collison from 2/8/10-2/17/10.

Earlier this week, NBA assistant coaches selected Young and teammate John Collins to participate in the MTN DEW ICE Rising Stars during All-Star Weekend on Friday, Feb. 15 at Spectrum Center in Charlotte.

The Hawks take on the Jazz tonight at 9 p.m. ET on FOX Sports Southeast.

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Trae Young Named Kia NBA Eastern Conference Rookie Of The Month For January

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Hawks, BlazeSports host Big Peach Slam Jam

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View Full 2014-15 Regular Season Schedule

ATLANTA, GA -- The National Basketball Association today released the 2014-15 regular season schedule and announced the Atlanta Hawks will begin the campaign on Wednesday, Oct. 29th in Toronto before the home opener against Indiana on Saturday, Nov. 1st at Philips Arena.

Every game will air live on the Hawks flagship radio station, SportsRadio 92.9 The Game, with The Voice of the Hawks Steve Holman announcing the action. The local TV schedule on Fox Sports South and SportSouth will be released at a later date. Atlanta is scheduled to appear on national television four times – Nov. 10th at New York (NBA TV), Jan. 14th at Boston (ESPN), Jan. 19th vs. Detroit (ESPN) and Feb. 2nd at New Orleans (NBA TV).

During the 82-game regular season schedule, Atlanta will take on each Eastern Conference team four times with the exception of Boston and Chicago (once at Philips Arena, twice on the road), and New York and Indiana (twice at home, once on the road). The Hawks face each Western Conference opponent twice.

The Hawks will find themselves at home for several games surrounding the holidays, including contests against Toronto (Wednesday, Nov. 26th), New Orleans (Friday, Nov. 28th) and Charlotte (Saturday, Nov. 29th) just before and after Thanksgiving, and the LA Clippers (Tuesday, Dec. 23rd), Milwaukee (Friday, Dec. 26th) and Cleveland (Tuesday, Dec. 30th) in late December.

Of the 41 contests at Philips Arena, 22 will be weekend games (13 Friday/five Saturday/four Sunday). The Sunday contests feature earlier tip times – Dec. 7th vs. Denver (3:30 p.m.), Jan. 11th vs. Washington (3 p.m.), Jan. 25th vs. Minnesota (6 p.m.) and Mar. 22nd vs. San Antonio (3 p.m.).

Other notable matchups include the Cleveland Cavaliers (Dec. 30th and Mar. 6th), Los Angeles Lakers (Nov. 18th) and Miami Heat (Nov. 14th and Mar. 27th).

Atlanta’s longest homestand consists of seven-in-a-row from Jan. 19th-31st, highlighted by matchups with the Pacers (Jan. 21st), Oklahoma City Thunder (Jan. 23rd) and Brooklyn Nets (Jan. 28th). Earlier in the month, the Hawks play eight-of-ten away from home, including a three-game West coast trip (Utah Jazz Jan. 2nd, Portland Trail Blazers Jan. 3rd, Los Angeles Clippers Jan. 5th) and a four-games-in-five-nights trek to take on the Philadelphia 76ers (Jan. 13th), Boston Celtics (Jan. 14th), Toronto Raptors (Jan. 16th) and Chicago Bulls (Jan. 17th). The annual Martin Luther King Jr. holiday game at Philips Arena is set for Monday, Jan. 19th against Detroit (2:30 p.m. tip).

Atlanta’s final game before the All-Star break is Feb. 11th at Boston, and the Hawks resume play on Feb. 20th vs. Toronto, a span of eight days between contests. The Hawks hit the road for their longest trip in late March, playing six straight away, starting with Denver on Mar. 11th and finishing at Oklahoma City on Mar. 20th.

Among 21 total back-to-back sets, the schedule includes two home/home back-to-backs (Friday, Nov. 28th vs. New Orleans and Saturday, Nov. 29th vs. Charlotte; Friday, Jan. 30th vs. Portland and Saturday, Jan. 31st vs. Philadelphia). Atlanta’s busiest home months are November and January (nine games during each) while they take to the road a season-high 10 times in March.

All Hawks home games will start at 7:30 p.m. except the four Sunday games listed above, and the aforementioned Jan. 19th MLK Day game vs. Detroit (2:30 p.m.).

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Hawks Home Opener Set for Saturday, Nov. 1 vs. Indiana in Playoff Rematch

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8 Things You Should Know About Al Horford...

The Atlanta Hawks won the Golden Matrix Award for Best In-Game Feature at the 32nd Annual Information Display and Entertainment Association (IDEA) Conference held July 13-16 in Dallas, TX for their Code of Conduct Videos, which included parodies of top-40 hits “Blurred Lines” and “Wrecking Ball”.

In the “Blurred Lines” parody, Hawks Public Address Announcer and popular V103 Morning Show Host Ryan Cameron takes center stage channeling Robin Thicke as he, Harry the Hawk and members of the Atlanta Hawks Cheerleaders display what is appropriate behavior for fans at Philips Arena during Hawks games. The feature can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqhQBw5ALHI&amp;feature=youtu.be.

Harry the Hawk is the lead in the parody of the Miley Cyrus hit “Wrecking Ball”. He is joined by Hawks Cheerleaders, who serenade the crowd on following arena rules.  Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins also makes a surprise cameo.  The video can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obA-0cvyIRg

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