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Hawks' Trae Young 'Wanted to Hear Those F You Chants Again' After GW Shot vs. Knicks
May 24, 2021
The raucous crowd at Madison Square Garden took center stage during Sunday's Game 1 of the Eastern Conference first-round playoff series between the New York Knicks and Atlanta Hawks.
Until Trae Young silenced the fans.
Young drilled the game-winning floater with 0.9 seconds remaining to give his Hawks a 107-105 victory on the road.
"When you're in the zone and everyone's chanting 'F You,' I don't know if any of y'all had that but I've had it a couple times," he said on TNT after the shot. "I had it in college, and I had it again tonight. It got real quiet at the end. For me, I wanted to hear those 'F You' chants again."
He later added:
It wasn't just the shot that stood out during Young's first career playoff game.
He finished with 32 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds and went into takeover mode during the fourth quarter. He answered a Julius Randle go-ahead three with an and-1 in the final two minutes, put Atlanta ahead with two free throws with less than 30 seconds remaining and found Bogdan Bogdanovic and De'Andre Hunter for clutch three-pointers.
Atlanta needed the heroics given the performance of New York's bench.
Alec Burks led the way for the home team with 27 points, while Derrick Rose turned back the clock for stretches with 17 points, five rebounds and five assists. Immanuel Quickley provided some outside shooting, and RJ Barrett spearheaded the effort for the starting lineup with a double-double of 14 points and 11 rebounds.
However, star Julius Randle was an ugly 6-of-23 from the field, which New York was not able to overcome with Young playing like an actual star on the other end.
The Hawks point guard will have an opportunity to continue silencing the Knicks fans in Wednesday's Game 2 at Madison Square Garden. If they can steal another one on the road, the Hawks will be in full control heading back to Atlanta.