WASHINGTON — It took nearly 21 minutes into Thursday night’s game, but Trae Young’s welcome-to-D.C. moment came in stunning fashion.
After receiving a pass behind the three-point line and faking his defender to jump behind him, Young drove to the basket and faked a behind-the-back pass to guard Leke Black in the left corner with his right hand before shifting to his left for a powerful layup.
The crowd at Capital One Arena went wild.
It didn’t matter much that the Washington Wizards were down 15 points after that basket or that Young, in his first game since being traded to Washington in January, was limited for 20 minutes. It also didn’t matter that Young started slow and made just one of the five 3-pointers he attempted in the game, finishing with 12 points and six assists in the Wizards’ 122-112 loss to the Utah Jazz.
In his limited time on the court, Young, 27, has proven to be the type of player the Wizards haven’t had since John Wall’s healthy early days. He displayed the fluidity and playmaking skills that made him one of the most exciting players in the league during his seven seasons with the Atlanta Hawks. Young wowed fans with his ankle-breaking tackles, no-look passes and three-point attempts.
Young compared Thursday’s game to his first game with the Hawks against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden eight years ago, when he said he couldn’t sleep the night before. He said his only expectation on Thursday was to shake off the rust from not playing since Dec. 27 and get back up to speed.
Young found offense to himself — with a pick-and-roll or a backhand jumper — but missed the open threes he would have made in the past.
“I thought I played well,” Young said after the match. “My shots were on the line. I didn’t have any legs under me.”
In the opening minutes of play, Young was acting more as a facilitator than aggressively searching for his shot. Late in the second quarter, he broke free for a wide-open 3 coming off an Anthony Gill screen, but instead of letting it fly, Young found guard Trey Johnson in the left corner for a wide-open 3-pointer.
“Trae is a willing passer,” forward Julian Rees said. “Just being a scorer is a big threat and also on the other hand being a willing passer. There aren’t a lot of keepers like that in this league.”
In what could have been the highlight of the match, Young threw a dart at Bilal Coulibaly, who was sprinting down the right side of the pitch in a quick attack. But head coach Brian Keefe called a timeout when the ball left Young’s hands.
“He caught me pretty quick,” Keefe said. “He threw that ball really fast. That ball came right out of his hands when I was calling it. I said, ‘Man, but these things happen.’
Although Young looked natural on many of the plays, it was clear that this was his first game in over two months and his first with his new Wizards teammates.
Reese, who was signed to a two-way contract last week, fumbled a few of Young’s entry passes from the pick-and-roll, which has been Young’s bread and butter in his career. On a fast break in the second quarter, Young found Johnson in a wide-open right corner, but Johnson missed. Young attempted a behind-the-back pass to Koulibaly earlier in the match, which went into the first rows of the stands.
“I’m learning these guys, and they’re going to learn me, too,” Young said. “I feel like there’s going to be times where they have some moments, like when I’m wide open and they get the ball when they’re not expecting it.”
The Wizards appeared to trail 67-49 at the break, and corrected some mistakes and errors in the second half.
In the third quarter, Young dropped a backhand pass to a trailing Johnson for a 3-pointer, and then made a few plays afterward threading a pass between Blake Henson’s legs into the hands of waiting forward Anthony Gill, who converted a contested basket. On a fast break late in the quarter, Young found Bob Carrington in the left corner for a wide-open 3 that brought the score to 87-77.
Young, who played 19 minutes through three quarters, missed the entire fourth period.
Although the Wizards will likely clean up the offense in some games, the defensive side is another story. Young, who stands 6-foot-2 and has always struggled on the defensive end, was attacked on Utah’s first possession, constantly put in pick-and-rolls and layers of ball screens to create open baskets.
Overall, the Wizards had poor transition defense and three-point defense. They offered little to no protection, and the perimeter defense led to plenty of open looks for the Jazz’s shooters, who made 15 3-pointers.
“We had a hard time controlling the dribble tonight,” Keefe said. “I thought that was the most important thing, penetrating the dribble, getting to the basket.” “I thought we scored well. It was just penetrating, (Isaiah) Collier and some of those guys going downhill. We didn’t protect against the initial drive, and then our shells weren’t tight.”
Young has graced Washington fans and teammates since arriving in town. Since he was acquired in January, he has worn the jerseys of stars who have played in the nation’s capital over the years, including Wall, Georgetown’s Allen Iverson and the Washington Capitals’ Alex Ovechkin.
During the team’s game against the Houston Rockets on March 2, Young was ejected from the bench after he entered the court to argue with the referee during an altercation between Washington guard Jameer Watkins and Rockets forward Tarry Eason.
“I knew I wasn’t going to get sent off tonight when I was playing,” he said.
It was just Young’s 11th game of the season after injuries to his right side limited him to just 10 games in what became his final season with the Hawks.
After his first game with Washington, which saw the Wizards lose their seventh straight and fall to 16-46, Young is already looking to take his new team to greater heights.
“I haven’t won a tournament or reached the finals, but I’m two games away from it,” Young said. “So I know what it takes to get there. For me, I’m trying to push through here. I know you can’t do it overnight.”
“That’s why I love it here now. And that’s what we preach is daily habits and making sure you’re getting better every day, whether you’re in the gym or not, you can get better, whether it’s in your body or your mind. Those daily habits will stick with us and hopefully we’ll have long-term success.”
