Trae Young dealing with playoff misery against Celtics

Trae Young is averaging 20 points, 3 rebounds, and 7 assists in the 2023 playoffs.

ATLANTA (AP) — Trae Young was showered with chants of “overrated!” during two dismal games in Boston. The Atlanta star will need to find his playoff groove at home if the Hawks are going to have any chance of knocking off the Celtics.

Young shot just 35% (14 of 40) during a pair of double-digit losses that put the Hawks in an 0-2 hole heading into Game 3 Friday night at State Farm Arena.

And the Boston fans let him have it, demonstrating they don’t have a lot of respect for the 24-year-old point guard who is supposed to be one of the league’s most dynamic young players.

Atlanta coach Quin Snyder hasn’t lost faith in Young.

“I want Trae to be aggressive. He knows that,” Snyder said after Thursday’s practice. “I don’t want us to be deterred by the ball not going in and stop having that aggressive mindset — Trae in particular.”

Also Friday, the New York Knicks host the Cleveland Cavaliers with the series tied 1-1, while Denver Nuggets take a 2-0 lead into Minnesota to face the Timberwolves.

Dejounte Murray, who starts in the Hawks backcourt with Young and leads the team in scoring at 26.5 points per game, sent his teammate a text after Game 2 telling him “be yourself.”

“He’s just gotta be confident, be Trae Young, be who he is,” Murray said.

But who is he? After all, this is the second year in a row Young has slumped badly in the playoffs.

In 2022, he averaged just 15.4 points in a five-game loss to Miami in the opening round. The Heat totally shut down Young, who shot 31.9% from the field, made only 7 of 38 3-pointers, and had more turnovers (31) than assists (30).

It’s been more of the same this year against the second-seeded Celtics. When Young has been on the court, the Hawks have been outscored by a total of 32 points.

Unless he can turn things around, it looks like another short postseason stay for the Hawks, who two years ago advanced to the Eastern Conference final before falling to the eventual NBA champion Milwaukee Bucks.

But Young is now dealing with the death of his great-grandfather, posting “heaven got brighter overnight” on social media Thursday.