The New York Knicks' beef with Trae Young goes back to 2021, when the Hawks cruised to a 4-1 victory in their first-round playoff series. Because of that, the media blew the Trae Young narrative out of proportion, and fans would've liked for it to end this year when Atlanta traded the guard to Washington, but no. CJ McCollum decided otherwise.
He had a team-high 26 points in the Hawks' Game 1 loss to the Knicks, and he kept that momentum going on Monday, finishing with a game-high 32 points on 12-of-22 shooting to give Atlanta the 107-106 win to tie the series at 1-1.
McCollum turned the clock back a little bit and took the game over down the stretch, giving Atlanta a one-point lead with 2:08 minutes left to play. He wasn't done yet, though, adding a floater and a fadeaway to seal the deal for the Hawks.
This is the man who was supposed to be a throw-in for Atlanta when it moved on from Young. Maybe New York would be up 2-0 right now if CJ had gotten that memo.
Trae Young is still torturing Knicks in playoffs in form of CJ McCollum
Knicks fans didn't have strong feelings for CJ before the series started, but now, he's stepped into the villain role. He kicked Jalen Brunson in the groin while going up for a jumper in Game 1, and then afterward, said that the point guard must've thought he was at a Broadway show. McCollum eventually took that back, saying he actually watched the replay himself, but it was too late then.
At age 34, in his 13th season in the league, CJ is embracing a new identity, one that suits him well, as long as you're not a Knicks fan. He was going back and forth with the MSG crowd and even got into it with Jose Alvarado, his former Pelicans teammate.
McCollum has contributed more to winning Hawks basketball this season than Young did when he was healthy. Atlanta reconstructed its identity by moving on from its star guard, and the team is even better off for it than anyone thought, thanks to the CJ McCollum impact and his aggression on offense that led to his Game 2 heroics. It felt like 2019 again.
Leave it to Young to still be a thorn in New York's side, even though he's watching the playoffs from Cancun, or wherever he is.
Add us as a preferred source on Google