Atlanta Hawks star Trae Young caused a bit of a fuss last Wednesday when he rolled some imaginary dice right on the New York Knicks' center-court logo at Madison Square Garden after sealing a 108-100 win to book their trip to Las Vegas for the semifinals of the NBA Cup. When asked about Young's celebration, Jalen Brunson took the high road, conceding that if the Knicks wanted to prevent the Hawks star from puffing his chest, then they should have won the game.
But for former Knicks center Isaiah Hartenstein, he says that he would have done something to let Young and the Hawks know that they aren't to be trifled with. Hartenstein said that if he were still with the team, he “wouldn’t have let him roll the dice on midcourt” because he's “always got love for New York”.
Nonetheless, Brunson believes that Hartenstein's comments are moot anyway, as he's now with the Oklahoma City Thunder — the team that will be facing the Milwaukee Bucks in the final of the NBA Cup.
“Isaiah isn’t here,” Brunson said, via Zach Braziller of the New York Post. “Do I have an issue with [Young's celebration]? Yeah, but he won, they won. So why put in false and fake energy to do something like that, when you could’ve done that to try and win the game? That’s just my point of view on it.”
Trae Young may have won the battle against the Knicks, but the Hawks lost the war
The major comfort for the Knicks in the aftermath of Trae Young's dice-roll celebration is that the Hawks didn't exactly progress too far following their quarterfinal win in the NBA Cup. Atlanta saw their run in the tournament come to an end at the hands of the Bucks, 110-102, this past Saturday, and it seems as though Young's roll of the dice at the craps table ended in a loss.
Nevertheless, Young was well within his rights to celebrate however he pleased; it's not as if he did something disrespectful to the Knicks logo. He simply rolled some imaginary dice because he was going to Las Vegas, but it did not help matters, of course, that the Hawks star might be the most hated current NBA player due to the way he terrorized New York in the 2021 playoffs.
And if a team wants someone to not celebrate, they better win, which is a tough but necessary pill for Brunson and the Knicks to swallow.
