Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks (36-36) took on RJ Barrett and the New York Knicks (30-42) in part of the NBA Tuesday slate. It was the Hawks who came out on top with 117-111 being the final score.
Led by 45 points and eight assists from Trae Young, the Hawks used a late rally to win. The Knicks led 99-89 with 8:48 remaining in regulation but were outscored 28-12 for the remainder of the game.
“I think the swag and what we were able to do on the court tonight and the energy we had in the huddle, I knew it was just us versus everybody tonight,” Young said. “And I think if we have that type of mindset each and every game, we’re going to give ourselves a chance to win.”
With Julius Randle sidelined, the Knicks received 30 points and 13 rebounds from RJ Barrett while Alec Burks chipped in 21 points to go along with. However, their inability to slow down Young proved to be too much.
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Coming off a 117-112 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans in their previous outing, the Atlanta Hawks needed to bounce back with a win in this one. The New York Knicks were handily defeated by the Utah Jazz 108-93 in their previous outing, and their struggles continued.
The top storyline in this game was Trae Young playing again at Madison Square Garden. His rivalry with Knicks fans developed during last year’s playoffs and while neither team is having a strong season, both sides surely enjoyed sharing another moment.
“We knew that the crowd was going to have that energy similar to the playoffs and our focus was on us to play good basketball tonight, and we didn’t talk about New York or the playoff series,” Hawks coach Nate McMillan said. “We needed to win this game. It’s a much-needed win for us and that was the focus.”
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