Young hits runner with 0.9 left to lift Hawks past Knicks
Hawks #Hawks
Trae Young made a runner in the lane with 0.9 seconds left to give the Atlanta Hawks a 107-105 victory over the New York Knicks in a thrilling postseason return for both teams
By BRIAN MAHONEY AP Basketball Writer
May 24, 2021, 1:36 AM
• 4 min read
NEW YORK — Trae Young made a runner in the lane with 0.9 seconds left to give the Atlanta Hawks a 107-105 victory over the New York Knicks on Sunday night in a thrilling postseason return for both teams.
Young finished with 32 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds. He frustrated the Knicks with his ability to draw fouls and made all nine free throws when he did.
Many in the loud crowd of more than 15,000 jeered Young throughout the night but he got the final word when he drove right through the Knicks’ defense and floated in his shot from right of the basket.
Bogdan Bogdanovic added 18 points for the Hawks in their first postseason game since 2017.
Alec Burks scored 27 points for the Knicks, who are back in the playoffs for the first time since 2013. Derrick Rose scored 17 points, but Julius Randle shot just 6 for 23 while finishing with 15 points and 12 rebounds.
The Knicks host Game 2 on Wednesday night.
Neither team led by more than six points in a fourth quarter during which the teams took turns regaining and then losing momentum. Young made a pair of free throws for a 105-103 lead with 28 seconds left after the Knicks unsuccessfully challenged the call, and Rose tied it with a basket with 9.8 seconds to go.
New York hadn’t hosted a playoff game in eight years and hadn’t hosted many fans all season, with its largest crowd during the regular season 1,981.
So the 15,047 the Knicks announced Sunday sounded deafening at times, particularly when RJ Barrett slammed it over Bogdanovic to forge a 63-all tie with 5:19 left in the third, with fans chanting his name during Atlanta’s ensuing timeout.
Both teams went 41-31, with the Knicks earning the No. 4 seed and home-court advantage after sweeping the Hawks in the three-game season series.
Random chants and cheers broke out even before players took the court for their final warmups, and the Knicks were greeted by a standing ovation when they emerged with about 15 minutes to go before the start.
But the Knicks couldn’t give the fans much to cheer once the game started. Atlanta jumped to a 17-7 lead as the Knicks missed 14 of their first 17 shots.
Down nine midway through the second, the Knicks finally got going while Randle was resting. A 12-4 spurt cut it to 45-44 and the Hawks led 52-50 at halftime.
Young scored eight straight Atlanta points for a 63-58 lead about halfway through the third before Barrett made a 3-point and then his dunk. Bogdanovic responded with a 3 before the Knicks answered with a 10-0 run, opening a 73-66 lead on Taj Gibson’s three-point play. Lou Williams scored the final five points to cut it to 73-71 after three.
TIP-INS
Hawks: Atlanta improved to 2-8 against the Knicks in playoff games, and snapped a four-game losing streak to them in all games dating to last season.
Knicks: Coach Tom Thibodeau brought Rose, the Knicks’ Sixth Man Award finalist, off the bench just 4 minutes, 15 seconds into the game. … Barrett had 14 points and 11 rebounds.
POSTSEASONS PAST
Thibodeau was asked his favorite playoff memory when his time as a Knicks assistant from 1996-03 and came up with two, both from 1999: Allan Houston’s series-winner against Miami and Larry Johnson’s four-play play against Indiana in the Eastern Conference finals.
“We had the Allan Houston shot against Miami. It doesn’t get much bigger than that and then of course LJ’s four-point shot,” Thibodeau said. “LJ’s four-point shot, I’ve never heard a building as loud as the Garden was after that shot”
In between those series, the Knicks swept the Hawks in the second round.