On Wednesday, the Atlanta Hawks went into Madison Sq. Backyard and upset the New York Knicks within the quarterfinal spherical of the Emirates NBA Cup, 108-100.
Somewhat than doing it by an enormous efficiency from Trae Younger, they acquired it accomplished by dominating their offensive boards, locking down the Knicks defensively and turning that sturdy protection into 20 fast-break factors.
Younger has been a villain within the New York Metropolis space ever since his Hawks defeated the Knicks within the first spherical of the 2021 playoffs, and he continues to obtain an honest quantity of disrespect throughout the nation.
ESPN persona Kendrick Perkins made a daring assertion about how a lot disrespect Younger has gotten.
“Trae Younger is probably the most disrespected star since Carmelo Anthony,” Perkins mentioned.
“Trae Younger is probably the most disrespected star since Carmelo Anthony.” @kendrickperkins on the Hawks star 👀 pic.twitter.com/UV7j4khANa
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) December 11, 2024
Younger has been voted onto the All-Star crew thrice in six earlier seasons, however many have criticized the best way he performs.
He’s a low-efficiency scorer — he got here into Wednesday’s sport taking pictures simply 38.5 p.c from the sphere and 31.0 p.c from 3-point vary — and takes a excessive quantity of 3-point pictures regardless of his lack of marksmanship, and he has all the time been turnover-prone.
However one factor Younger is doing very properly this season is drop dimes — he got here into Wednesday tops within the NBA with a median of 12.2 assists a sport.
Nobody thought a lot of the Hawks coming into this season, however they lately gained six video games in a row, they usually’re now headed to Las Vegas for the semifinal spherical of the Emirates NBA Cup, the place they may play the Milwaukee Bucks.
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