NUEVA YORK (AP) En su primera vez en el escenario, Trae Young ya era la estrella del espectáculo.
Y al igual que un actor en la cercana Broadway, cerró su impresionante actuación debut con una reverencia, después de hacer un largo triple en el último minuto.
«Antes de este juego, sé dónde estamos, sé que hay un montón de programas en esta ciudad y sé lo que hacen cuando el programa termina», dijo Young.
Young lo cerró con 36 puntos y nueve asistencias, y los Atlanta Hawks vencieron a los New York Knicks 103-89 el miércoles por la noche en el Juego 5.
Clint Capela respaldó sus palabras de confianza del día anterior con 14 puntos y 15 rebotes para los Hawks, quienes jugarán contra los 76ers de Filadelfia, los primeros sembrados, en su primer viaje a las semifinales de la Conferencia Este desde 2016. Esa serie comienza el domingo.
Young nunca pareció un novato en los playoffs, acertó el tiro ganador con 0.9 segundos por jugarse en el primer partido y promedió 29.2 puntos y 9.8 asistencias.
NEW YORK (AP) In his first time on stage, Trae Young was already the star of the show.
And just like an actor on nearby Broadway, he closed his impressive debut performance with a bow, after making a long 3-pointer in the final minute.
»Leading up to this game, I know where we are, I know there’s a bunch of shows around this city and I know what they do when the show is over,» Young said.
Young closed it with 36 points and nine assists, and the Atlanta Hawks beat the New York Knicks 103-89 on Wednesday night in Game 5.
Clint Capela backed up his confident words from a day earlier with 14 points and 15 rebounds for the Hawks, who will play the top-seeded Philadelphia 76ers in their first trip to the Eastern Conference semifinals since 2016. That series begins Sunday.
Young never looked like a playoff rookie, hitting the winning shot with 0.9 seconds left in the opener and averaging 29.2 points and 9.8 assists.
The profane chants toward the point guard continued Wednesday, though less frequently than in Games 1 or 2. Young was never rattled by the fans, one of whom was banned after spitting on Young in Game 2.
Now he has silenced them for the summer.
»I texted him before the playoffs started and told him he’s built for this time of the season with the confidence he brings to the floor, his skill level for scoring the basketball and creating opportunities,» Hawks interim coach Nate McMillan said. »It’s really tough to game plan against him.»
Julius Randle had 23 points and 13 rebounds for the Knicks to finish his disappointing first postseason. The winner of the NBA’s Most Improved Player award shot 8 for 21 from the field and finished 28 for 94 (29.8%) in the series.
Randle said he was proud of the team the Knicks were.
»It’s tough for me to process that right now the way things ended, but we’ll be back,» he said.
Randle led the Knicks to a 41-31 record in their first season under Tom Thibodeau, with a pair of 40-point games during a three-game season sweep of Atlanta. But the Hawks were by far the better team in this series, with only a poor second half of Game 2 keeping them from a sweep.
That continued a strong surge for the Hawks, who went 27-11 after March 1, when Lloyd Pierce was fired and replaced by McMillan.
They won the two games in Atlanta easily and returned to New York confident they could close it out. Capela downplayed the Knicks’ attempts to play physically, saying the Hawks could do that and also win the games.
nba.com