Trae Young again delivered the coup de grace.
Silencing the boos with a fantastic showing at his favorite arena, Young dropped 45 points, including the highlight dagger, and essentially cut the final thread to the Knicks’ playoff hopes.
Young’s final field goal arrived with one minute remaining, when he sent defender Taj Gibson sprawling to the court with his crossover before burying the jumper.
The 117-111 final result put the Knicks (30-42) six games behind the Hawks (36-36) for the final play-in spot with only 10 to play. In other words, it’s safe to purchase those nonrefundable tickets to Cancun.
Young, who killed the Knicks in the playoffs last season, played the role Tuesday of travel agent. He nailed seven 3-pointers and added eight assists.
“I know how he will be received here (at Madison Square Garden). Trae lives for these moments,” Hawks coach Nate McMillan said. “This type of challenge in his career, he’s faced this a number of times. Probably not as big as playing in Madison Square Garden. But he’ll be fine. I think he looks forward to the challenge, to the opportunity for moments like this. And he’s a kid that has a lot of confidence. He believes in himself. He believes in this team and he’ll be fine.”
Nearing the end of this miserable season, the Garden crowd couldn’t muster up the energy to attack Young with gusto. The boos stopped by the second half the “F— Trae Young” chant never came close to the volume of last year’s playoff series.
The Knicks, who’ve now clinched a losing season, were playing without Julius Randle, who, fresh off getting fined $40,000 for verbally abusing a ref in the previous contest, was ruled out with a bruised quad. RJ Barrett carried the load in Randle’s absence, dropping 30 points on 9-of-25 shooting.
The Knicks held a 10-point edge after Miles McBride’s 3-pointer with 8:48 remaining, but, typical to Tom Thibodeau’s squad, the flow stalled in crunch time.
The Hawks finished on a 28-12 run.
Obi Toppin, starting for the Knicks in place of Randle, scored 10 points in 24 minutes. The Knicks missed 12 of their 26 free throws.
Thibodeau isn’t giving up.
“You’re not eliminated until you’re eliminated,” he said. “Crazy things happen in sports, Just win the next game. That’s all we’re thinking about.”
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