Trae Young shone against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden yet again on Wednesday night, leading the Atlanta Hawks to a 108-100 win in the quarterfinals of the NBA Cup. Young trolled the Knicks toward the end of the game by pretending to roll dice on the logo and spoke about his relationship with their fans postgame.
“It’s a love-hate relationship,” Young said. “I got a lot of love and a lot of hate I guess from them, but I got a lot love from them too. It’s respect.”
Young, who had 22 points, five rebounds, 11 assists, and one steal in this game, has been public enemy no. 1 for Knicks fans for quite a while now and isn’t at risk of losing the top spot anytime soon after rolling the dice at the logo. The 26-year-old wanted to let them know that he and his team are now heading to Las Vegas for the semifinals, not their Knicks.
This wasn’t the first time that Young had eliminated the Knicks from a competition The three-time All-Star orchestrated a famous 4-1 series victory for the Hawks when the teams met in the first round of the 2021 playoffs. That series, of course, is where this unique relationship between him and the fans began.
Knicks fans started chanting “F*** Trae Young” in Game 1 of the series and he responded by drilling the game-winner. Young then also hit the dagger in the closeout Game 5 at MSG and bowed to the crowd. It was one of the finest displays of villainy we had seen in the NBA in a while and Knicks fans will never forget it. They greeted him with the ‘F*** Trae Young’ chant in Wednesday’s game too.
"F*ck Trae Young" chants break out at MSG during Knicks-Hawks while Young is at the free throw line 🔊
(via @BeenHim16)pic.twitter.com/JaNcklUHkA
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) December 12, 2024
It sure must have been a great feeling for Young to roll the dice at the end after getting that treatment. He was asked about doing the celebration in his postgame press conference and revealed he had planned it a couple of days ago.
“I planned that one with my little brother a few days ago,” Young said. “We had talked about that and I knew what I was going to do. We were going to Vegas, so that’s what I had to do.”
Young also had some fun at a young Knicks fan’s expense after the game. He faked a handshake with the kid for one last bit of trolling before heading off.
https://twitter.com/MuseHawk/status/1867042313014481190
Young and his 14-12 Hawks now head to Las Vegas, where they’ll take on the Milwaukee Bucks at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday at 4:30 PM ET with a spot in the NBA Cup final on the line.
Jalen Brunson Had A Blunt Reaction To Trae Young’s Trolling
Knicks star Jalen Brunson was asked about Young’s late-game antics in his postgame press conference and had quite a blunt response.
“We should win the game if we don’t want him to do that,” Brunson said.
That’s exactly right. Brunson knows if he had played better, then Young wouldn’t have had the opportunity to do it. The one-time All-Star struggled against the Hawks, finishing with just 14 points (5-15 FG), four rebounds, eight assists, one steal, and one block.
Brunson will look to make amends for that showing when the 15-10 Knicks take on the Orlando Magic next at Kia Center on Sunday at 6 PM ET.
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