Trae Young’s Dominance of Brunson, Knicks Praised By Fans as Hawks Advance in NBA Cup

Current bragging rights in the rivalry between Trae Young and New York Knicks fans belongs to the Atlanta Hawks guard.

Young and the Hawks defeated New York 108-100 in Wednesday’s NBA Cup quarterfinals matchup at Madison Square Garden. Atlanta advanced to the semifinals in Las Vegas as a result and will face Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks.

Young struggled some with his shot at 8-of-22 from the field, but he finished with a double-double of 22 points, 11 assists and five rebounds. His passing in particular helped the Hawks flip a halftime deficit into an impressive road victory.

It was far from a one-man show, though, as Jalen Johnson did a little bit of everything with 21 points, 15 rebounds, seven assists, two steals and two blocks, while De’Andre Hunter provided a spark off the bench with 24 points.

Karl-Anthony Towns posted 19 points, 19 rebounds, five assists, three steals and three blocks, while Jalen Brunson added 14 points and eight assists.

But it wasn’t enough to counter Young, who drew plenty of reaction from social media:

It is always going to generate attention and headlines when Young plays at Madison Square Garden, as he has become one of the biggest enemies of Knicks fans throughout his career. It was more of the same from the start Wednesday, as the crowd consistently booed the Hawks guard.

However, New York’s defense kept him in check in the early going, as he didn’t hit a single three in the first half.

Throw in Towns stuffing the stat sheet and notching a double-double in the first half, and the Knicks built a seven-point lead by intermission. Atlanta had nobody who could match up with the four-time All-Star, who extended his game to the outside when needed and found ways to score in the lane.

And then everything switched in the third quarter.

Young drilled back-to-back three-pointers to get going all while dishing out assists to Johnson. The Hawks started getting out in transition, taking advantage of the spacing that comes from the attention Young draws and hitting their outside shots. The result was a 34-18 advantage in the third and a nine-point lead for the visitors heading to the fourth.

New York cut into the deficit some in the fourth quarter, but Atlanta had an answer every time.

And, to the disgust of Knicks fans, Young was skipping down the court when he was the one providing those answers with a string of assists for a Johnson dunk, Dyson Daniels three-pointer and Hunter alley-oop to push the advantage back to double digits.

It was a shocking turnaround that silenced a raucous crowd, and it was only fitting that Young dribbled out the clock amid a chorus of boos at midcourt as time expired.