About Last Night: Trae Young breaks out

Comparing a rookie with a year of university experience – even one as impressive as Trae Young's freshman season in Oklahoma – is an exercise in hyperbole.

But just or not, when you're an undersized playmaker with a virtually limitless range of shooting and a penchant for racking up numbers in ridiculous clusters, the observers are likely to mention you in the same breath as Warriors superstar Stephen Curry .

In the case of Young, the parallels only increased when the Hawks general manager, Travis Schlenk, formerly of the same warriors, engaged him in a deal with the Mavericks, in exchange for contracts, in exchange for the European artist Luka Doncic and an additional first round pick.

If these comparisons embarrass Young, well, he did not do himself sunday, while he had one of the finest first-year shows in the history of the NBA . Indeed, by getting 35 points and 11 assists for the Cavaliers, Young came up with a stats line that was not seen by an NBA rookie since Curry himself in 2010, and only 11 rookies in total.

Trae Young tonight:

35 PTS
11 ASTS

Last rookie with 35 PTS / 10 ASTS in a match: Stephen Curry (35 PTS / 10 ASTS on 3/13/10, 36 PTS / 13 ASTS on 2/10/10) pic.twitter.com/QZAvTKR5KG

– NBA.com/Stats (@nbastats) October 22, 2018

According to Basketball Reference, this list of 11 recruits includes legends such as Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Oscar Robertson and Jerry West. Add six points to Young's three points and the list will be reduced to Curry and Jason Kidd. Add Young's unique business figure and the list goes down to … Young.

It was a welcome sight for the Hawks, who have been dealing with Young's flashes since the Summer League, but nothing like Sunday's explosion, in which he sank 13 of 23 shots in total and orchestrated the offense as a veteran veteran. And that's only in his third game in the NBA.

Given his lack of experience and setbacks that could undoubtedly hinder the rebuilding of a Hawks team that would still end up at the bottom of the rankings, it would be foolish to anoint Young if early. After all, he just turned 20 last month.

But for at least one historic afternoon, Curry's comparisons seemed pretty good. (If nothing else, Doncic was impressed!)

Damn the torpedoes!

Most players could get back to the game in their first game after needing a month to recover from a knee surgery. Most players are not Russell Westbrook.

HUSTLE repeat. #ThunderUppic.twitter.com/SlYssnaUxD

– NBA (@NBA) October 21, 2018

Slug festival unexpected

It is obviously still early, but the NBA goals per game averaged 113.1 points on Sunday, its highest level since 1969-1970.

Thus, when the high power Nuggets attacked the even more powerful Warriors, an offensive extravagance seemed almost assured.

False! Against all odds, a defensive battle erupted in Denver, with the Nuggets holding less than 100 points for the Warriors – something that was only 16 times in 103 games last season – thanks to Juancho Hernangomez's winning streak. (Said teammate Gary Harris postgame: "Mi amigo!"