NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: HAWKS VS. BUCKS

July 3, 2021

Trae Young

Atlanta Hawks

Game 6: Postgame

Milwaukee Bucks 118, Atlanta Hawks 107

Q. Trae, do you feel like this run was the start of something special for you guys?

TRAE YOUNG: Yes, of course. I definitely feel like this is a start. I mean, this is the beginning. We've accomplished so much this year, but just the guys in the locker room, the young guys, we all understand that this is just the beginning. It's fun. We had the city excited. We want to keep it this way.

Q. What do you feel like you personally got out of this postseason?

TRAE YOUNG: All I wanted to prove coming into this season is that I could win. I remember Sara asking me that before the season started. I remember telling her I don't care about individual accolades or anything else. I just care about winning. Hopefully people have a different mindset when they look at me in that type of light.

Q. On that note of winning, going from starting out 14-20 to now battling in the Eastern Conference Finals, just what does it say about this team's intangibles as well? You spoke on building blocks but just that resiliency.

TRAE YOUNG: Just that we have the pieces. We've got the talent, and we've got guys that you see we can do it, and you see the flashes that we can do it. It's just, it's hard. This [expletive] is hard. It's not easy. They've been here multiple times before and haven't been able to take that next step, and I think for us being able to go through this for a first time early, I mean, it's really good for us. I think it will only help us.

Q. Is it tough at all to end on the note of it doesn't seem to be quite 100 percent. I guess you guys have battled the injury bug all year. Is it tough to end on a note where you're not full force?

TRAE YOUNG: Of course. Everybody in these playoffs, they don't want players hurt. For me, not being able to be out there for my team for two games, and then tonight just wanting to battle and try to fight through it as much as I could and try to be out there for my team, it's definitely frustrating not being healthy and not being able to give my full 100 percent.

So, yeah, I definitely was a little bit frustrated.

Q. You knew when you woke up this morning this was a potential elimination game. Was anything going to keep you off the floor?

TRAE YOUNG: Not from trying. Not from trying. I was going to try it eventually. It's a bruise; there's going to be pain. I still have pain. It's going to be like this for at least a couple more days, so I knew I wasn't going to be able to feel 100 percent. So I was going to go out and at least try and try to do it again.

Q. Is there any way you can express to us what you couldn't do? I know guys don't like to use an injury as an excuse.

TRAE YOUNG: You know me, I don't use injury as an excuse. For me, my bruise is on my heel, so like all my pushing off my right foot, there's not anything that could really damage it worse, but it was more pain tolerance and just fighting through the pain. When I was running, I knew it wasn't going to get worse, but I could feel -- you know what I'm saying? You could feel pain in it. That's all it was.

Q. When you came out of the game in the first quarter and you kind of laid your head down on the chair, was that just frustration?

TRAE YOUNG: Yeah, it was just frustrating being rusty early on. It was just me being rusty, and I was mad I was making some feeble-minded mistakes.

Q. Trae, you said in here before the message was not to have any regrets when you came off the court and not leave anything out there. Is that how you felt when you walked off the court?

TRAE YOUNG: Of course. I didn't want to have any regrets after tonight. I didn't want to go not play and think to myself all offseason if I could have been out there and played, what -- I mean, if I could have helped my team at all in any way, it would have hurt me. So just go out and just play and at least leave it all out there on the floor. That's all I could do.

Q. We haven't had a chance to talk to you the past couple days. I would imagine it's been pretty tough for you to sit and watch a couple of playoff games.

TRAE YOUNG: It's the Eastern Conference Finals, I don't want to miss any games. I don't miss regular- season games. In my rookie year, I didn't miss any games besides the last one, and it was to get Cam Reddish. I don't like missing games, period. So Eastern Conference Finals, I didn't want to miss any game. It just sucks this is how it happened.

Q. I think I know what your answer is, but Nate is still technically the interim coach. Is there any reason he should not be the coach going forward?

TRAE YOUNG: No. I don't see interim on his label here soon. In my mind, I don't think that will be a case that much longer.

Q. Kind of on the topic of Nate, just how much credit do you give him for helping to -- I know it's a group effort, but how much credit do you give him to transforming this team and getting you guys pointed in the right direction and sustaining that as well?

TRAE YOUNG: Like you said, it's a group effort, but we all played in a role in our success. What Nate did is a big piece of our success, just his trust in me, his belief in everybody. I mean, his competitiveness, it really rubbed off on everybody. We were all really fighting for each other and believed in each other, and I think it all started from his messages, and you could tell it really was a trickle-down effect to everybody in the locker room.

I think, when it comes to his part of our success, I think that's the big thing.

Q. What do you feel like this team needed to change to get to this point after he took over?

TRAE YOUNG: I think we just needed to -- I don't know. I feel like we had the talent the whole time. I felt like we had the talent from the beginning, and we just needed to find a way to put it together and really buy in to each other. I think also guys got back healthy. After we got guys healthy, we really just fought, and we just battled all season, and it turned our 14-20 season to totally different. So I think it was really we just bought into each other and kept fighting. We never gave up.

Q. What makes you confident that this is the group that could potentially bring a title to Atlanta?

TRAE YOUNG: First of all, I always have confidence in myself, and I know the guys in this locker room, we always have confidence, and I think the thing, to be special with any group is we have to have confidence. This group has that, and it's a big part of what Nate preaches, go out there and play confident. I think the group we have, we can do that.

Q. Following up on that, Trae, what's the biggest thing you learned this year about what it takes to win at a high level? I don't mean just you personally, but the team.

TRAE YOUNG: One thing I learned this year is you've got to be a high seed. Home-court advantage is a big thing. I think for me understanding and going through this process now, it's like, all right, we got into the playoffs, we did a lot of things, but we kind of made it hard on ourselves. Let's make it a little bit easier and play in some more home games.

I think for us that's the next step for us is trying to build towards home-court advantage.

Q. One last follow-up on the injury. If this was a regular-season injury, how long would you have sat out?

TRAE YOUNG: I'd have been out -- I mean, depends on where we are.

Q. As you were leaving the court going to the locker room, you seemed to yell something at the crowd. I think I know what you said, but my lip reading from up high may be off. What did you say?

TRAE YOUNG: What did you hear?

Q. I thought you said, "We'll be back."

TRAE YOUNG: Yeah, that's right. I feel like we'll be back, and I meant that with my whole heart.

Q. John was talking about the importance of getting this far with this young crew and experiencing the playoffs. Is that all it is, or is it something that, when you look at Milwaukee, what they have encompassed as a roster that's needed to get to that next step?

TRAE YOUNG: This whole thing is about experience. You have to go through it to -- I mean, you really have to go through this. You see in the West, you see CP has never been to the Finals in his 16 years. This is hard. It's not easy. You really have to go through it. I think what he did and what he's been through really helped the Suns team, and what this team has been through with the Bucks, they've been to this point a couple times. I know that feeling, they didn't want to go home again.

I think for us we've got that same feeling now, and it's the same thing.

Q. Now that you've gotten the experience in the playoffs, do you feel more confident now that you've taken this step in the future of this franchise?

TRAE YOUNG: Definitely. Like I just said, when you go through experience, and we've been through it and we've succeeded at a high level in these playoffs. I think with that we can only build off that. It's been a special year, and I'm excited about what's to come.