Can Trae Young Silence Knicks Fans Again in Game 2?

Trae Young may have won the battle in Game 1, but he started a war with New York Knicks fans at Madison Square Garden in his post-game interview. 

Young called out fans for chanting “F you” at him during Game 1, but the Atlanta Hawks star got the last laugh by hitting a game-winning floater with less than a second to play to seal the game.

Tonight, Young will get a chance to face the MSG crowd once again, and he has an enticing player prop projection of 25.5 points on WynnBET with the over and under both set at -110. Young dropped 32 points in Game 1, and even though my Knicks fandom hopes he doesn’t, he could be in line for another monster game tonight. 

The Knicks struggled mightily to keep Young out of the paint in Game 1, as he dominated with floaters in the lane when the Hawks ran their high pick-and-roll action. Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau will certainly try to make an adjustment, but the Knicks could be without their top interior defender in Game 2, as Nerlens Noel is questionable with an ankle injury. 

Noel was not on the floor when Young scored the game-winning bucket, and the Knicks don’t have another shot blocker of his caliber on the roster with Mitchell Robinson still out due to a broken foot. 

Young averaged 24.7 points in his three games against the Knicks during the regular season, and the Hawks would be foolish to not let him attack as much as he did in Game 1. 

Young’s penetration helped open up shots for Bogdan Bogdanovic on the outside and it also got some easy buckets for Clint Capela in the paint. If the Knicks are forced to go small with Taj Gibson as their only center, Atlanta would be wise to attack him with pick-and-roll action with Young and Capela or John Collins. 

This is a must-win game for the Knicks at home, but Young has a chance to become a villain at MSG with another signature performance. Young’s Hawks are two-point underdogs on WynnBET.