As the New York Knicks were eliminated from the Emirates NBA Cup by the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday, star guard Trae Young proceeded to celebrate on the Madison Square Garden floor by pretending to roll dice on the logo at center court. Naturally, the celebration generated a lot of attention given the history between Young and New York.
Knicks’ Jalen Brunson is moving past Trae Young’s postgame celebration
Despite that, Knicks’ star guard Jalen Brunson is not glossing over the incident.
“Do I have an issue with it? Yeah, but he won, they won,” Brunson said, via Zach Braziller of the New York Post. “So why put in false and fake energy to do something like that, when you could’ve done that to try and win the game? That’s just my point of view on it.”
Brunson’s comments on the in incident come as former Knick center Isaiah Hartenstein, who is now with the Oklahoma City Thunder, said that he wouldn’t have let Young do those on-court antics if he was still with New York. Brunson replied to that with a very simple answer:
“Isaiah isn’t here,” Brunson said, via Zach Braziller of the New York Post.
Trae Young’s history with the Knicks runs deep
The Hawks defeated the Knicks for the second time this season on Wednesday 108-100 after a lousy second half from New York. Young, who is 7-14 against the Knicks in the regular season in his career, finished the game with 22 points and 11 assists. It was the first time in two years that Young had won back-to-back games against New York (3/22/2022 and 11/2/2022).
Young has a famed history with the Knicks since defeating them in the 2021 playoffs. Many fans have a disdain towards the three-time all-star, mostly because of his confidence and on-court demeanor.
For a brief couple of seasons, the rivalry seemed to be very one-sided given the recent success of the Knicks while the Hawks had some middling seasons. However, it would appear that the rivalry has been re-ignited this season.
Young’s villain theatrics this season aren’t limited to the dice roll celebration. After the Hawks defeated the Knicks in Atlanta earlier this season, Young said to the New York fans in attendance to “take y’all a— home.”
The next time the two teams meet will be Jan. 20 at Madison Square Garden. If the Knicks can get themselves a win, perhaps there won’t be any dice rolled by Young at the end of the game.
