DeMar DeRozan, Trae Young come up clutch with last-second shots to secure wins

Kyle Irving

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DeMar DeRozan, Trae Young come up clutch with last-second shots to secure wins image

With 10 games of action on this NBA Sunday, we were bound to have a couple that would come down to the wire.

Take a look at two of the biggest shots we've seen through the first week of the 2019-20 NBA season...

Trae Young's dagger 3-pointer

The Atlanta Hawks had their home opener against the Orlando Magic – their Southeast rivals who finished atop the division last season en route to qualifying for the playoffs. The Hawks were looking for a statement win early in the season and they put themselves in a solid position to do so.

With the game tied at 97 and a minute on the clock, rising star point guard Trae Young – who already had 33 points in the contest – attacked the rim for a layup to give his team a two-point lead late in the game.

The Magic went to their All-Star centre Nikola Vucevic to try and tie things up, but second-year guard Kevin Huerter came up with a help-side block to give the Hawks a chance to put this game away.

Young was feeling it the entire contest, and that didn't change on the possession that would close things out. With the shot clock winding down, Young danced around the top of the perimeter before shaking Markelle Fultz with a step-back jumper to create just enough space to get a clean look from beyond the arc. You can guess how that ended with the type of night that Trae was having:

Young banked in a clutch 3-pointer that would seal the victory for Atlanta to advance his team to 2-0 on the season. He finished the contest a game-high 39 points, 13 of which came in the fourth quarter of the close contest. Young shot an efficient 16-for-25 (64.0%) from the field and 5-for-10 (50.0%) from beyond the arc to go with nine assists, seven rebounds and two steals.

Young accounted for over half of Atlanta's points, scoring or assisting on 58 of the teams 103 total points.

He has been flat out ridiculous in leading the Hawks to a perfect 2-0 record, averaging 38.5 points, 9.0 assists, 7.0 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game shooting 58.7% from the field and 55.0% from 3-point land.

DeMar DeRozan's game-winner

The San Antonio Spurs hosted the Washington Wizards in search of their second win of the season.

In a contest that was neck-and-neck the entire way, it was to no one's surprise that this game would end up coming down to the final buzzer.

With a minute and a half remaining in the fourth quarter and the score tied, the Spurs went to their hot hand in DeMar DeRozan to try and give them a late lead and he got a pull-up jumper to fall.

One minute later, with 30 seconds on the clock, Bradley Beal knocked down a pair of free throws to tie the game, giving the Spurs the ball with a chance to end things on their home court.

DeRozan had already scored eight points in the fourth quarter and there wasn't much of a question where San Antonio was going with the rock. DeRozan used a high ball-screen from All-Star forward LaMarcus Alridge and got going down hill, attacking the rim for a game-winning layup.

According to Basketball-Reference, this was DeRozan's third-career game-winner with under five seconds remaining in a contest. It was his first game-winner since 2018 as a member of the Toronto Raptors.

The four-time All-Star finished with 26 points shooting 11-for-24 (45.8%) from the field, with 10 of those 26 points coming in the fourth quarter. He added four rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block to the box score, leading the Spurs to a 2-0 record to start the season.

Kyle Irving

Kyle Irving Photo

You read that wrong – not Kyrie Irving. From Boston, graduated from the University of New Hampshire. Sixth season as a content producer for NBA.com's Global editions. Covering the NBA Draft has become his annual "dream come true" moment on the job. Irving has a soft spot for pass-first point guards, with Rajon Rondo and Steve Nash being two of his favorite players of all time.