Trae Young hits game-winning halfcourt dagger to lift Hawks over Jazz

It was a perfect moment of redemption for Collin Sexton.

The last time the Utah Jazz guard took a game-winning shot, on Dec. 1, head coach Will Hardy called a timeout he immediately wished he could have taken back, and the shot didn’t count.

But on Tuesday night, despite a broken inbound play in which the Atlanta Hawks nearly stole the ball, Hardy let the Jazz play through. Sexton swiped at the ball to prevent the Hawks from taking control, took it to the left side of the arc, dribbled to get a little separation and hit and incredible 3-pointer to tie the game with four seconds left.

The only problem is that four seconds is a lot of time, especially for someone as gifted as Trae Young, who has been known to make extremely deep shots look like easy work.

And that’s exactly what he did.

Young got the ball, and before he even crossed half court, he took a 50-foot shot that looked like it was going in from the second it left his hands.

It swished in.

“That’s a tough way for the game to end, but there’s nothing to be upset about with the end of the game,” Hardy said. “I thought Collin was pressuring the ball pretty well, but those are some of the breaks of the game...Trae Young made a half court shot.

“It’s one that we’ll watch film, and there’ll be things to teach like there always is, but this is one you just kind of shake their hand and move on. It was a hell of a finish and an incredible shot.”

While the ending was nail-bitingly tense and offered all the excitement that a fan could want from a close finish, the rest of the game was as enjoyable as any game has been for the Utah squad this season.

The Jazz were moving the ball and making in-game adjustments. Despite being shorthanded — without Jordan Clarkson (plantar fasciitis) John Collins (personal reasons), Keyonte George (left heel) and Brice Sensabaugh (illness) — everyone on the Jazz roster stepped up when needed.

They got great minutes out of Micah Potter, Johnny Juzang, Patty Mills, and rookie Cody Williams. That was in addition to the incredible outings by Lauri Markkanen, Walker Kessler and Sexton.

Markkanen tied a career-high in 3-point attempts with 15 and made good on eight of them en route to a 35 point outing. Kessler had a 21-point, 10-rebound double-double that included eight offensive boards.

Sexton added 24 points including the game-tying shot and a clutch 9-of-10 from the free throw line.

“I thought we took care of a lot of the little things,” Hardy said. “Guys played really hard, moved the ball. I thought a bunch of guys played well tonight.”

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While Sexton’s teammates were hoping the Jazz could have extended their win streak to three games for the first time this season, they were more concerned with how bad the sting would be for Sexton, having lost the game after feeling like he’d done enough to get them to overtime.

“He put us in that position,” Markkanen said. “Collin made a great play and gave us a chance and it sucks for him as well to make a shot like that and not get to overtime.

“You always feel like you’re gonna win it over time if you can just get there.”

All that being said the Jazz came away from this game feeling like they are still trending in the right direction. No one was hanging their head, no one was disappointed in how they played.

As Hardy said, after a shot like the one Young hit, they just tipped their cap and will get ready for the Miami Heat on Thursday night.