By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
What an absolute cinema that was.
Just when everybody thought that the Atlanta Hawks-Utah Jazz game would go into overtime, Trae Young played spoiler and flipped the script that was on everyone’s minds after hitting an insane half-court buzzer-beater game-winner on January 8, 2025, in the ongoing NBA regular season.
With only 2.9 seconds left in the clock and Atlanta without any timeout available, the superstar point guard took matters into his own hands.
All Young needed was two quick dribbles to get close to the half-court line, and voila.
Cash. Money. Game called!
Despite Collin Sexton’s tight defense deployed on Young, the scoring machine still swished the miracle hail mary heave to help the Hawks escape a thrilling road game win that took place in the West Coast.
The Utah fans were already hyped up when Sexton buried a cold-blooded three-pointer to tie things up at 121-all, only to be overturned by Young’s long-distanced game-winner to finish the affair with an impressive double-double outing of 24 points, 20 assists, two rebounds, and a block.
Atlanta looked to be in control of the game after mounting their largest lead at 16 points, courtesy of Young’s in-court vision as he fed his wide-open shooters in the corners.
However, Utah woke up in the second half and banked on the duo of Lauri Markkanen and Sexton who were feasting in their respective isolation plays midway through the third.
After Markkanen and Sexton’s explosion, Utah even took over the driver’s seat when they held a five-point lead in the fourth.
Answering the call for the Hawks was De’Andre Hunter, who fired clutch shots after clutch shots including the go-ahead triple in the 1:57 mark of the final frame.
Several lead changes took place in the most crucial stretch of the fourth, but Young stole the limelight and broke Utah’s hearts with his extraordinary half-court game-winner.
Although Young became the center of attraction, the Hawks’ solid collective scoring effort also helped them end their NBA skid, as seven of their players all reached double digits in the offensive department.
Young led the Eastern squad with 24 points, backstopped by Clint Capela’s all-around effort of 18 markers, six rebounds, and three blocks.
Also joining the splash party hosted by Atlanta were Hunter, Dyson Daniels, Zaccharie Risacher, Vit Krejci, and Bogdan Bogdanovic who chipped in 17, 16, 14, 13, and 11 points, respectively.
