Trae Young went off against the Portland Trail Blazers, setting a new career-high performance. He dropped 56 points in a narrow 131-136 loss on Monday night. On top of that, the point guard added 14 assists. He went for 17-26 from the field, topping it off with 7-12 from the 3-point line.
Clint Capela was perfect on the night, going for a 10-10 shooting. He secured his double-double with 11 rebounds. He is yet another NBA player of African descent as his father is from Angola, while his mother is Congolese. Kevin Huerter contributed with 18 points on 50% performance against the Blazers.
However, nobody else has managed to reach the 10-point mark. For instance, Danilo Gallinari had a terrible night, sinking just 21.4% of his total attempts. He finished off with just 7 points for nearly 35 minutes on the court against the Blazers.
On the other side, Anfernee Simons erupted with 43 points for the hosts. He nailed down a career-high nine 3-pointers which came in crucial for the final victory. Normal Powell was also highly efficient from the field, maintaining nearly a 70% performance.
The strength of Jusuf Nurkic and Nassir Little helped them play good offense against the Hawks. They ended up having 21 points and 22 points respectively. Normal Powell and Robert Covington came up huge with 4 steals each.
Trae Young became the only player in the NBA history to ever record 55+ points and 14+ assists in a single game. However, his team remains outside of top 10 as they will need to make a significant progress as soon as possible, if they want to catch up with the rest of the field in the East.
The situation within the Blazers is quite similar, but it is even worse. With this victory, they put an end to their 4-game losing streak around Christmas. Dame and CJ McCollum have been out of rhythm from the beginning of the season and that has been reflected in the overall standings. They are now 12th with 14 wins and 22 losses, but still keep a close distance to the top 10.
