NEW YORK — Trae Young had 22 points and 11 assists, De’Andre Hunter AND Jalen Johnson surpassed Knicks attack area i Atlanta Hawks after a surprising performance in the NBA Cup, they reached the semifinals in Las Vegas, beating New York 108-100 on Wednesday evening.
Hunter scored 24 points and Johnson had 21 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists for the Hawks, who were perhaps the surprise team of the tournament after eliminating the defending champions Celtics in Boston and the NBA leader Cleveland Cavaliers in group play to reach the knockout stage as the No. 3 seed in the East.
They will face another top-seeded power from the East Milwaukee Buckson Saturday in the semifinals.
Josh Hart scored 21 points and Cities of Charles Anthony he had 19 points and 19 rebounds for the Knicks, who led 4-0 in group play and took a 12-point lead on Wednesday. But just like in the 2021 playoffs, it was Young who celebrated on the Madison Square Garden floor after the Knicks were eliminated.
Hawks: Just getting out of a tough group stage would be a great experience for some of the young Hawks players. Now they can win it all with two victories in Las Vegas.
Knicks: One of the tournament favorites had a shockingly poor second half and lost to Atlanta 0-2 this season.
The Knicks led 66-62 before Young scored eight straight points before hitting a 31-foot shot to the floor for his second straight three-pointer. Hunter then hit a 3 to cap an 11-0 run that saw Atlanta take its first lead of the game and take a 73-66 lead.
Atlanta outscored New York 61-46 in the second half.
While the Hawks head to Las Vegas, the Knicks head to Orlando for Sunday’s game.
