Young stings MSG again with midcourt celebration

NEW YORK -- Trae Young had 22 points and 11 assists, De'Andre Hunter and Jalen Johnson outplayed the Knicks frontcourt and the Atlanta Hawks took their astonishing NBA Cup tally each the measurement to the semifinals successful Las Vegas, beating New York 108-100 connected Wednesday night.

Hunter scored 24 points and Johnson had 21 points, 15 rebounds and 7 assists for the Hawks, who were possibly the astonishment squad of the tourney aft knocking disconnected the defending champion Celtics successful Boston and the NBA-leading Cleveland Cavaliers successful group play to scope the knockout shape arsenic the No. 3 seed successful the East.

They will look different East power, the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks, connected Saturday successful a semifinal matchup.

Josh Hart scored 21 points and Karl-Anthony Towns had 19 points and 19 rebounds for the Knicks, who went 4-0 successful group play and changeable retired to a 12-point lead Wednesday. But arsenic successful the 2021 playoffs, it was Young who was celebrating connected the level of Madison Square Garden aft eliminating the Knicks.

Takeaway

Hawks: Just advancing retired of a reliable excavation group would person been a awesome acquisition for immoderate young Hawks players. Now they tin spell and triumph the full point pinch 2 victories successful Las Vegas.

Knicks: One of the favorites to triumph the tourney had a shockingly mediocre 2nd half and fell to 0-2 against Atlanta this season.

Key moment

The Knicks led 66-62 earlier Young scored 8 consecutive points, pointing to the level aft a 31-footer for his 2nd consecutive 3-pointer. Hunter past deed a 3 to headdress an 11-0 surge during which Atlanta took its first lead of the crippled and went up 73-66.

Key stat

Atlanta outscored New York 61-46 successful the 2nd half.

Up next

While the Hawks spell to Las Vegas, the Knicks will spell to Orlando for a crippled Sunday.