Trae Young brought flashbacks of last year's playoffs to Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night, torching the Knicks for 45 points to lead the Hawks on a comeback that left New York with yet another blown fourth-quarter lead.
Young shot 13-for-25 from the field, shot 47 percent from downtown on 15 attempts, and iced the game by crossing up Taj Gibson and burying a midrange jumper with just over a minute to go, penning another chapter in his villain novel at MSG.
"Trae is gonna be Trae," RJ Barrett said after the loss. "He's special, of course. He's a special talent."
Barrett acknowledged that New York needed to do a better job collectively of slowing Young down, something last year's group struggled to do all postseason, but also noted that games like Tuesday night are more likely for a player as ball-dominant as Young.
"Someone who has the ball all game is gonna score, that's a given," Barrett said. "But definitely he shouldn't have had 45 or whatever he had."
Prior to Tuesday's loss, the Knicks had actually done a strong job of limiting Young this season. In their last matchup, he was a -13 and shot 4-for-12 from downtown in a New York victory, and won earlier in the year with Young on the court. But things went back to last year's norm on Tuesday.
"It's 3-1 in the series this year," Barrett said of the Knicks' performance against Young and the Hawks this season. "Overall, we did a good job, but this was a tough one for sure."
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