On Wednesday, the Atlanta Hawks went into Madison Square Garden and upset the New York Knicks in the quarterfinal round of the Emirates NBA Cup, 108-100.
Rather than doing it through a huge performance from Trae Young, they got it done by dominating their offensive boards, locking down the Knicks defensively and turning that strong defense into 20 fast-break points.
Young has been a villain in the New York City area ever since his Hawks defeated the Knicks in the first round of the 2021 playoffs, and he continues to receive a decent amount of disrespect across the nation.
ESPN personality Kendrick Perkins made a bold statement about how much disrespect Young has gotten.
“Trae Young is the most disrespected star since Carmelo Anthony,” Perkins said.
“Trae Young is the most disrespected star since Carmelo Anthony.” @kendrickperkins on the Hawks star 👀 pic.twitter.com/UV7j4khANa
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) December 11, 2024
Young has been voted onto the All-Star team three times in six previous seasons, but many have criticized the way he plays.
He is a low-efficiency scorer — he came into Wednesday’s game shooting just 38.5 percent from the field and 31.0 percent from 3-point range — and takes a high volume of 3-point shots despite his lack of marksmanship, and he has always been turnover-prone.
But one thing Young is doing very well this season is drop dimes — he came into Wednesday tops in the NBA with an average of 12.2 assists a game.
No one thought much of the Hawks coming into this season, but they recently won six games in a row, and they’re now headed to Las Vegas for the semifinal round of the Emirates NBA Cup, where they will play the Milwaukee Bucks.
