Trae Young got a little heated Wednesday night.
The Atlanta Hawks star was furious at the officials following a 118-117 loss to the Dallas Mavericks after he believed a foul should have been called on an inbounds play with 4.7 seconds remaining in the game.
Young was setting a screen on Mavericks center Willie Cauley-Stein, who was guarding John Collins. When Cauley-Stein made contact with Young, it sent the Hawks guard to the ground.
The ball was inbounded to Danilo Gallinari while Young was getting up from the ground. Gallinari drove the ball from in front of the halfcourt logo to the left side of the elbow before pulling up to shoot on off-balance mid-range jumper that hit the front of the rim as time expired.
As soon as the buzzer sounded Young was already marching toward the official, getting into his face and barking at him over what he believed should have been a foul.
As Young walked away, he appeared to notice his nose may have been bleeding as further evidence he was fouled.
The NBA’s postgame COVID protocol security appeared to be restraining Young from getting into close contact with others. Mavs’ Luke Doncic, who was swapped for Young in a draft-night trade three years ago, came over to him and put his arm around Young as the Hawks star tried to cool off.
ESPN color commentator Jeff Van Gundy argued the officials were right and that it was not a foul.
“He set a screen, and a good one,” Van Gundy said. “Collins was actually open.”
Crew chief Josh Tiven told a pool reporter afterward that the contact between Young and Caulie-Stein was deemed “incidental.”
“Therefore, we didn’t have a whistle on the play,” Tiven said. “After reviewing the play postgame we still feel that a no-call was the correct decision.”
Some fans on social media suggested that Young flopped after Cauley-Stein, who is 11 inches and 60 pounds bigger than Young, made contact with him.
“I’m not going to run away from the ball with four seconds left and we’re trying to win the game,” he said, per ESPN. “I’m not going to fall just to fall at the end. That’s just the most frustrating part. Not really having an opportunity to make a play at the end is just really frustrating.”
Cauley-Stein said he never even saw Young.
“I ain’t even see Trae,” he said. “He’s a smart kid. He was trying to get a quick, little foul to shoot free throws and ice the game. No way they was going to give him that call for the game. Good try, though. That was smooth. It was sneaky.”
Young, when told of Cauley-Stein’s explanation, said that further proves it was a foul.
“Obviously, with him saying he didn’t see me [and] running me over, that’s a good screen,” Young said. “I set a good screen. Like he said, he didn’t see me. He turned around and ran right into me.
“If Dorian [Finney-Smith] wasn’t there, I would have fallen straight back, but he was there and kind of like was using his hands a little bit, so I kind of fell sideways….as I was on the ground, the ref was looking right at me. Didn’t say nothing and didn’t call nothing.”
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