Sixers Analyze Matchup Against Atlanta Hawks' Trae Young

Sixers players and coaches analyzed the matchup against Atlanta Hawks star guard Trae Young on Friday.

Next up for the Sixers on their hunt for an NBA championship is the Atlanta Hawks. Similar to their first-round matchup, they will be tasked with slowing down a top-level offensive guard. 

Trae Young is off to a good start in the first postseason run of his career. In five games against the Knicks, he averaged 29.2 PPG and 9.8 APG. He is the piece that the Hawks' offense revolves around, and the Sixers will need to do their best to contain him. 

Defending Young is no small task. He is a crafty guard who can hit a shot from just about anywhere on the floor. 

After practice on Friday, players and coaches talked about the upcoming matchup against Young and the Hawks. Danny Green dove into the mindset needed when defending a player like Young. 

"You want to take away Trae's threes, his penetration. Obviously, he makes plays at the rim with his floaters. You can't take away all three of them, he's obviously very good at it. He's crafty for a reason. So your mental process is to try and give him less touches and throw different things at him," said Green. 

Doc Rivers brought up the challenges of not only defending Young but Atlanta as a whole. The Hawks have more firepower on their roster than the Sixers' defense saw in round one. With more offensive options to worry about, it makes it difficult to send multiple defenders at Young. 

"I've always said with guys like Trae and all the great scorers, if you could slow them down that easy, they wouldn't be great scorers," Rivers said.

When speaking on the idea of defending Young, Rivers did not give much. "It's going to be a series of different coverages, different matchups for sure, and different looks on Trae individually," he said. 

The Sixers did a great job making life hard for Bradley Beal in round one. With players like Ben Simmons and Matisse Thybulle, they are more than capable of containing All-Star level players. 

Multiple players will likely get a chance to defend Young in stretches. While Young had a phenomenal performance against the Knicks, he will have his work cut out for him against one of the league's top defenses in round two. 

Kevin McCormick covers the Philadelphia 76ers for South Jersey's 97.3 ESPN and Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter: @KevinMcCNBA.