Trae Young crushes Knicks’ playoff hopes with game-high 45 points in Hawks win

Can’t Trae Young kindly spare the New York Knicks after what he did to the team in last year’s playoffs? Apparently not.

In his first return to Madison Square Garden since last season, he scored a game-high 45 points (13-of-25) in a 117-111 Atlanta win.

Without Julius Randle, the Knicks had a 10-point lead over the Hawks with over eight minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. That’s when New York’s inevitable collapse began and Young took the game into his own hands.

With 10 games left in the regular season, the 30-42 Knicks are six games back from the 10th-place Hawks. The loss essentially solidified the fact that the team won’t have a shot to make it back to the playoffs after last year’s impressive run. Young made sure of that.

After the game, Atlanta’s 23-year-old guard was asked about the “welcome” that he received from fans at MSG. His response included a not-so-subtle shot at New York’s fanbase.

Trae Young scores game-high 45 points to erase Knicks’ play-in hopes.

Young stole the show down the stretch on basketball’s biggest stage and the Knicks didn’t have an answer for him on the defensive end.

The final nail in New York’s coffin came with a little over a minute left to play. Taj Gibson was tasked with guarding Young off a screen and the ending played out as you’d expect.

Young wasn’t the only one that went off for the Hawks. Bogdan Bogdanovic finished with a season-high 32 points (11-of-20) off the bench. He and Young combined for 77 of Atlanta’s points and that included 11 3-pointers.

Keep in mind, it was only two nights ago that Utah’s Donovan Mitchell scored 36 points (three away from his season-high of 39) on the same court. The Knicks can’t catch a break.

The good news is that if the season ended today, New York would have the No. 10 pick in the 2022 draft.

Whether fans would like to admit it or not, Young might’ve done the Knicks a favor by taking the game over on Tuesday night. Why? Well, he increased New York’s chances of drafting its own star point guard. So, amidst yet another disappointing year, fans might owe Young a thank you.

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