National Basketball Association

Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks are the NBA's true underdog story

Updated Jun. 17, 2021 8:31 p.m. ET

By Martin Rogers
FOX Sports Columnist

Numerically speaking, it doesn’t make a lot of sense, this gloriously refreshing postseason burst by the Atlanta Hawks.

Who cares about sense? Forget the numbers. Ignore the expectations of how things were supposed to shake down. Embrace the fun.

Atlanta’s run, headlined by the sparkling effervescence of Trae Young and the low-key stardom of John Collins, has surprised and delighted already and the best thing about it is that there’s no telling how much longer it can last. If momentum stalls, it could be just two more games, or it could be … well, who the heck knows, especially now, in the middle of the most unpredictable playoffs in recent memory.

For as long as it goes, it will be something you won’t want to miss, because the Hawks don’t seem to understand the meaning of fear or pressure. They don’t play perfect basketball, but they attack relentlessly and without restraint, to the point where no lead, however well-padded, ever feels safe.

"When you talk about an underdog, for a team that has no All-Stars, no All-Defensive players, no All-NBA players, this team is fighting," Young told reporters after the Hawks’ incredible, improbable, reality-bending comeback against the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night. "We’ve just had that chip on our shoulder all year and having that underdog mentality."

It is an unusual kind of chip because it appears to have made the group determined and resolute but still joyful, not angry. Atlanta plays with unstoppable energy rather than blind fury and it was enough to send them surging past the New York Knicks in the opening round, with Young targeted for taunting by the MSG crowd and responding by silencing them, time and again.

Few predicted this, though – a 3-2 lead over the Eastern Conference top seed, the 76ers, who fell apart in Game 5 when they discovered that a 26-point lead and a 99.7% win probability wasn’t enough to get the Hawks to drop their heads, quite the opposite.

Young and Collins are supported by some fine pieces – Danilo Gallinari’s calm head, Lou Williams’ clutch scoring and Clint Capela’s interior presence – and have ridden a surge in form that corresponded with Nate McMillan replacing Lloyd Pierce as head coach.

That was in March and things looked a lot different back then. The Hawks were 14-20, mired in 11th place in the Eastern Conference, a team with plenty of ability and a serious dearth of backbone. McMillan instilled discipline, the group found its spirit and the players discovered they liked this new order.

Since then, the Hawks are 34-14 and one win away from making their first trip to the Eastern Conference finals since 2015 when they were swept by LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Young’s omission from All-NBA consideration is regarded as one of the bigger snubs, and the Hawks are helping their fanbase forget about a dire recent postseason record.

When things get tough, the Hawks turn to Young, even at times like Wednesday, when his touch had deserted him a little and he’d gone cold over the first three quarters. Never mind. Young finished with 39 points and never stopped coming for more. It instilled panic into the 76ers, who found that while the television audience enjoys seeing a spritely, pumped-up, fleet-footed point guard with ridiculous handles going for the jugular, there aren’t many defenders similarly enthralled.

Skip Bayless on the 76ers' "collapse of epic proportion" against the Hawks in the Game 5 | UNDISPUTED

Hear what Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharpe have to say about the 76ers' epic meltdown.

"This was a collapse of epic proportion," FOX Sports Skip Bayless said on "Undisputed." "This was an all-timer."

For sure, but it was Young and his cohorts who put the 76ers in that frozen mindset. To a lesser extent, they’d done it in Game 4, too, overhauling an 18-point deficit on that occasion. "We are kind of making a habit of this lately," Young added.

With Atlanta having traded away Luka Dončić to get Young in 2018, there have been all kinds of questions since, with the Slovenian star having blossomed into the NBA’s hottest young prospect. But with Doncic and the Mavericks eliminated in the first round, Young is finding that this playoff thing, sampled for the first time, is very much to his liking.

In his first-ever playoff game, Young hit the winning shot at Madison Square Garden, then was unstoppable in the series clincher. In 10 playoff games, he is averaging 29.4 points and 10.3 assists.

"You couldn’t have diagrammed a better postseason debut," wrote the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Mark Bradley. "Opposing fans haven’t rankled him. Opposing teams haven’t stopped him. Even after losses, Young hasn’t seemed irked. He’s having the time of his life."

FOX Bet still has the Hawks as the least likely of the seven remaining teams to win the NBA championship, though their odds have shortened drastically, from +6000 to +1800.

Seven-game series are supposed to end the hopes of the dreamers and favor the squads with all the built-in advantages. In this matchup, reality suggests the 76ers are deeper, more powerful, more experienced and better pedigreed.

But they’re not hungrier, for no one is hungrier than the Hawks. It might be that no one is braver, too. And from the look of it, no one is enjoying themselves more.

Maybe it’s starting to make a little sense after all.

Martin Rogers is a columnist for FOX Sports and the author of the FOX Sports Insider Newsletter. You can subscribe to the newsletter here.