This is becoming a pattern.
Trae Young has already appeared to make some enemies among opposing coaching staffs and on social media due to his ability to find ways to draw whistles from the referees. Sometimes, it's a little bit of acting. Sometimes, it's a lot of acting. Many times, it's doing nothing wrong at all and just exploiting the rules of the NBA, though this could lead to an eventual fix.
But sometimes, there's nothing that Young is doing at all. The referees, on occasion, just seem to view him as a fragile, untouchable presence out there, and this has been the case against two Eastern Conference contenders in the Hawks' last two games. On Wednesday night, Jaylen Brown and the Boston Celtics were his victim.
The play was blown dead, however, so Brown avoided sending Young to the line. The Knicks weren't so lucky on an eerily similar play just two days before.
It's becoming a pattern on the floor, but there's worse: it's becoming a pattern on Twitter. This is when you know it's a serious problem.
To be fair, though, the Celtics didn't receive the worst of Young's foul-drawing skills. He only took eight free throws, which is below his average of 10.2 attempts per game on the season. But, boy, did they feel his wrath overall. His third 40-point effort of the year, to go along with eight assists, led the Hawks to a victory over the now-.500 Celtics.
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