Trae Young has a knack for playing the villain, and he also isn't opposed to moonlighting as a spoiler.
The Atlanta Hawks' star point guard put on a shooting clinic Wednesday night, scoring a playoff-high 48 points on 17 made buckets in the team's 116-113 win over the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals. According to StatMuse, Young became the first player in NBA history to score 45 points and record 10 assists in a Conference Finals game.
During Thursday's edition of the JR SportBrief show, JR discussed Young's dominant performance, and whether the 22-year-old phenom is capable of leading the Hawks to an NBA title this summer.
"You better fear these birds. You better fear these Hawks," JR said. "And there were a lot of people who said, 'Trae Young is too small. Trae Young isn't big enough. Trae Young can't do this, can't do that.' Somebody called me and said, 'Trae Young is going to go the way of Allen Iverson, he's just going to get hurt.' Different player. Trae Young is a great villain. He's a master manipulator out there on the basketball court. Knows where to go, how to get it done.
"And you know what? He's ahead of schedule. Trae Young is now getting his respect. Go ask the people in New York. Go ask the folks in Philadelphia. The fact is, Trae Young has made it extremely clear that he can be the best player, that he can be the leader on a championship team. And the Atlanta Hawks? Well, dammit, they're ahead of schedule. And Trae Young, just in this playoffs, is picking up all the respect he deserves."
Atlanta is the fourth team in history -- and the first since the 1998-99 Knicks -- to win Game 1 on the road in three series within a postseason (excluding last season's playoff bubble), per ESPN Stats & Info.
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series will take place on Friday in Milwaukee, with tipoff scheduled for 8:30 p.m. ET. According to FiveThirtyEight, Atlanta currently has a 45-percent chance of advancing to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1961.
JR's complete thoughts on Young and the Hawks-Bucks series can be accessed in the audio player above.
You can follow the JR SportBrief show on Twitter @JRSportBrief and Tom Hanslin @TomHanslin.