It’s been eight long years since the Knicks were in the playoffs. Those familiar chants of de-fense, de-fense were back Sunday night inside Madison Square Garden.
It didn’t take long, however, for the crowd to identify Trae Young as their target for the night.
Because that’s what comes with playoff basketball in the Garden. No, correction — that’s what comes with great playoff basketball in the Garden. There must be a foe, a target, a villain.
And there was Young, in his first career playoff game, silencing 15,000 fans with a silky-smooth jump shot and the type of footwork which can break ankles along with hearts.
Young’s floater with 0.9 seconds left sealed a thrilling 107-105 win for the Atlanta Hawks over the Knicks in Game 1 of their first-round series.
Young finished with 32 points, 10 assists and 7 rebounds in his playoff debut.
He was dancing his way through Knick defenders and with an array of layups and floaters. He was money at the foul line with converting all nine of his free throws.
The Knicks threw everything they could at Young, but it wasn’t enough, especially whenever the 6’1” guard went to his right with the basketball. Nothing worked, not even reserve guard, and defensive specialist, Frank Ntilikina’s one assignment to stop Young with the game on the line.
Head coach Tom Thibodeau knows he has his work cut out for him with adjustments before Game 2. A quicker start, for one, would help. The Knicks opened Game 1 making just three for their first 17 shots. After one quarter of play, they were only seven of 26 from the field. That’s not going to get it done against the Hawks.
Julius Randle shot just 6 for 23 while finishing with 15 points and 12 rebounds. He must be better in Game 2, bottom line.
It was Young’s focus throughout the game, however, which became the story of the night. The Garden crowd was raucous with their chants of “de-fense” quickly turning into “F— Trae Young”. The 22-year old shook it off with the poise of a veteran that’s been there before.
“As I hit the floater, it just felt like everybody got quiet,” Young said. “I was waiting for them F-you chants again. I was excited.”
His face after driving by Ntilikina and hitting that floater brought back memories of Reggie Miller and Michael Jordan tormenting the Knicks in the postseason.
There’s still plenty of basketball left to play in this series. But on this night, Trae Young grabbed the attention of 15,000 screaming fans, heard their chants, and silenced them.
On a night where the Garden was once again Eden, a new villain introduced himself.
Image – Getty
