After the Atlanta Hawks defeated the New York Knicks 108-100 to secure their passage to the NBA Cup semifinals in Las Vegas, star player Trae Young made a bit of a stir last Wednesday when he rolled some imaginary dice directly on the team’s center-court emblem at Madison Square Garden. Jalen Brunson took the high road when questioned about Young’s celebration, acknowledging that the Knicks should have won the game if they intended to stop the Hawks star from inflating his chest.
However, Isaiah Hartenstein, a former center for the Knicks, claims that he would have taken action to make Young and the Hawks aware that they are a formidable opponent. According to Hartenstein, if he remained on the team, He “always got love for New York,” so he “wouldn’t have let him roll the dice on midcourt.” Brunson, however, feels that Hartenstein’s remarks are irrelevant nevertheless because he is currently with the Oklahoma City Thunder, who will play the Milwaukee Bucks in the NBA Cup final.
Brunson stated, “Isaiah isn’t here,” according to Zach Braziller of the New York Post. Do I find [Young’s celebration] objectionable? They did win, though, and he did. Therefore, you could have tried to win the game by doing that instead of putting in phony and fake energy to achieve anything like that. That’s just my opinion on the matter. The Knicks’ main consolation in the wake of Trae Young’s dice-roll celebration is that the Hawks didn’t make much progress after their NBA Cup quarterfinal victory. This following Saturday, the Bucks defeated Atlanta 110-102, ending Atlanta’s tournament run. It appears that Young’s roll of the dice at the craps table culminated in a loss.
However, Young had every right to celebrate in any way he saw fit; it’s not as though he disrespected the Knicks emblem in any way. Since he was heading to Las Vegas, he just rolled some imaginary dice, but naturally, it did not help. that because of the way he harassed New York during the 2021 playoffs, the Hawks star may be the most despised NBA player alive. Brunson and the Knicks must take the difficult but necessary stance that a club must win if they want someone to not rejoice.
