Madison Square Garden, the Mecca of Basketball they say, are seeing Playoff’s action for the 1st time in a decade and the actions and the reactions by the fans are seen and heard worldwide. The Mecca has always been a difficult place to come and play in, even in the regular season, and these are the Playoffs. A lot of NBA Legends have already mentioned playing amidst the New York crowd.
This is what happened in the Playoffs, the Knicks have tied the series by getting a close win over Atlanta Hawks. After dropping Game 1 in dramatic fashion, where the All-Star Guard Trae Young gave them teardrops of a basket in the final seconds of the 4th Quarter. At the end of Game 1 – Young even mentioned ‘As I hit the floater, it just felt like everybody got quiet,” Young said. “I was waiting for them F-you chants again. I was excited”. Post-Game 1 heroics of Young, the fans as the Garden had labeled him as a villain for the series and Young has gracefully accepted this role.
At the start of Game 2, 15,000 strong crowds were targeting the Hawks star, who was playing in only the second playoff game of his career, with ‘bald’ chants and even aiming popcorn towards him and deliberately not hitting him to taunt his shooting skills.
Down 1, New York Knicks did not want to lose this and it showed, they wouldn’t have afforded to lose 2 consecutive games at the MSG and go to Atlanta. The series could have been half lost for the Knicks. But it was Derrick Rose who rose when it matters. And this has been throughout his career. The Knicks were trailing as much as 15 points in the 1st half. But coach Thibs knew he had to win this, made lineup changes, and brought back his longtime servants Derrick Rose and Taj Gibson replacing Elfred Payton and Nerlens Noel. It was the 3rd quarter where much quiet Most Improved Player – Julius Randle scored 12 of his 15 points in the 3rd which eventually turned the game in the favor of Knicks.
Check out tweet: Mike Vorkunov
Trae Young just casually dropping it in from 30 feet in transition, pulling up from the edge of the Knicks logo at MSG. Hawks offense is humming right now. pic.twitter.com/rbrbfpOv62
One of the craziest situations the Knicks have faced is containing Trae Young, the more the fans were booing him on the court, he was getting heated up and scoring at his will. Pull up from the logo’s making plays and whatnot. Even the shooters Gallinari and Bogdanovic have been impressive where the shots were converted in the clutch.
As Game 3 is up for grabs, Julius Randle needs and will have to step up. In the last 2 games, Randle has averaged 15 points, 12 rebounds, and 4 assists with 28.2% field goal percentage which is way below his regular-season averages.
As Game 3 heads back to Atlanta, the things are about to get nasty – with the last words of Trae Young Being – ‘See you in Atlanta’
