ATLANTA - An MRI on Atlanta Hawks star Trae Young's right ankle revealed a bone injury to his leg Monday afternoon, and he will be listed as a suspect for Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Milwaukee Bucks Tuesday night .
"This is the head of our snake," Hawks forward John Collins said Monday afternoon. "It's the last thing I think anyone who is a Hawks supporter wants to see that dude coming down with some sort of trick or whatever. I think he shot the officer's leg or stepped on someone's feet.
"He's the last thing I want to see. I hate watching it, and just hope he turns out fine."
Young sprained an ankle with 36 seconds to go in the third quarter of Game 3 on Sunday when he inadvertently stepped on referee Sean Wright's right foot. Young briefly went back to the locker room before returning with 8:44 to go into the fourth quarter.
But Young, who had 32 points in the first three quarters, clearly hampered by injury in the fourth, lacked some of the pop and explosiveness he had earlier in the game.
He was clearly disappointed with the situation after Sunday's game, although both Collins and center Clint Capela said he was in better spirits when they spoke to him on Monday.
"Yeah, of course we have to adapt," said Capella of what the Hawks will do if Young stays less than 100% for Tuesday's game. "I don't know how - I mean, what percentage he's going to be or what kind of Trai he's going to be. Even the fact that he's with us means he's already with us. is in the mind and everything.
"While there is hope that he can be with us, I don't know if he will, but hopefully he is."
Hawks coach Nate McMillan on Monday repeatedly referred to his players as "get the day you need" -- massages, treatments or getting a few shots. For Young, it was clearly going to be a day full of recovery from his injury.
"He's feeling fine," McMillan said. "He's frustrated with defeat. Like most people, he has something going on, whether it's an injury or some pain. Today is the day to keep in mind that you need to prepare yourself for tomorrow." is.
"So that's where Trai is. She's getting what she needs, which is a little treat, and whatever she needs, whether it's a massage or whatever, to prepare herself for tomorrow." "
But that didn't mean McMillan wasn't focusing on things his team could improve on as it tries to finish the series with a win in Game 4. Notably, the veteran coach had two areas that frustrated him with how Game 3 was played: poorly thought out quick shots, which caused the Bucks to fly away in the transition to easy baskets on several occasions, and paint the Bucks. Inability to keep out.
"I thought we were taking quick, competitive shots on the clock throughout the game," McMillan said. "It was really from all our guards. We didn't show the patience to find matchups or mismatches that they were giving us and take advantage of that. Again, those plays led to the transition point.
"I thought there were times when we didn't do a good job of keeping the ball in front. We allowed those guys to play in the paint without help. There were times when they missed shots and they beat us again across the board. aggressive rebellion.
"He played every time we tried to score a run to stop our runs, and that was the difference in winning that game. He made shots when needed. He would stop when needed. We didn't do that." , and that was the difference in the game."
It has been a wildly successful playoff run for the Hawks, who went 14-20 and fired McMillan's predecessor, Lloyd Pierce, in the middle of the season to turn things around to finish fifth in the East. They then knocked out a pair of highly seeded opponents, the New York Knicks and the Philadelphia 76ers, in the first two rounds of the playoffs.
After winning the third straight Game 1 on the road to open the series, they are back on Earth in the last two games, being routed in Game 2 and the section down a barrage of Hawks Miss and Khris in the fourth quarter. are collapsing. Middleton builds in Game 3.
All of this, however, is a learning experience for the Hawks — something Collins said is happening not on a play-by-play basis but on every play in his first postseason journey.
"It really shows how hard it really is to win in the playoffs," Collins said. "It shocks me every new game I play, the next game I play, how hard the experience is.
"It always tells me that this is real basketball. This is probably going to be the hardest basketball I can ever play on this platform. It just challenges me to try to get more close in every possession because It's real tough basketball right now."