Nicks wasn't ready for the adult trip.
Tom Thibodeau's team froze in a 108-100 loss to the Hawks and was eliminated from the NBA Cup quarterfinals as arch-rival Trae Young once again provoked his favorite arena.
Instead of heading to Sin City for the semifinals, the Knicks will next travel to Mickey Mouse territory, Orlando, to face the Magic on Sunday.
They deserve a kiddie ride after Wednesday's dud against MSG. Young sent a reminder of his more mature destination at the final buzzer.
The Hawks guard took a timeout by dribbling in halfcourt while miming rolling the dice, a celebration he said he and his brother had been planning for days.
“I knew what I was going to do,” Young, who had 22 points and 11 assists, said as Knicks fans chanted the familiar profanity “Fk, Trae Young” at various points during the game. ” he said. “We were going to Las Vegas, so we were thinking of doing that.
“If he was going to be taken out of the game, he would have been taken out long ago.”
As a result, the Knicks (15-10) were embarrassed by Young, fixated on rebounding, losing and always being more fixated on officiating than on their own struggles.
The Hawks (14-12), who will next face the Bucks in the NBA Cup semifinals in Las Vegas, came on strong in the second half and beat the lackluster Knicks on the glass.
“I’d like to see the film,” Thibodeau said. “They're a very good offensive rebounding team. I think they were plus-2 in the first half. [in rebounding]. There were problems in the third quarter.
“And they erased the deficit they had. And it went quickly. And our energy went down. And it can't sink in. Missed shots are part of the game, too. We just have to keep fighting. We had to win with defense and rebounding. We had a few turnovers. That was a problem.”
Jalen Brunson scored just 14 points on 5-of-15 shooting and was held in check by up-and-coming All-Defense candidate Dyson Daniels, who stalked and sliced through New York's point guard on every pivot.
The Knicks shot just 26 percent from treys, 60 percent from foul shots and allowed 22 offensive rebounds, including five shots taken by Atlanta in the fourth quarter.
“Finishing possessions defensively.” [was a problem]'' Branson said. “They had a lot of offensive rebounds. It's just unacceptable.”
With the loss, each Knicks player lost more than $50,000 in prize money that they would have received for advancing to the semifinals, which would have been added to the $50,000 they would have earned as quarterfinalists.
The Hawks have the money, and apparently Young is a fan of craps. He explained his entire elaborate provocation routine.
“I rolled an 8, and I picked it up,” Young said after kneeling near the logo and pantomiming the dice game. “And I rolled it again. So I took the money after that and left.”
The Knicks controlled the first half as Atlanta struggled with shooting, but couldn't create enough separation to feel comfortable.
The Hawks chipped away at the lead until they took their first lead of the game on a trey from Young midway through the third quarter.
The Knicks were unlucky for the rest of the first half, as missed shots spilled over into a lack of defensive possession.
“It wasn't our night,” Brunson said. “But my night wasn't unpleasant. They got out in transition, Trey hit a couple of key threes, got to a double-digit lead at one time, held the lead and played well.”
The last time Young faced the Knicks in an elimination game nearly five years ago, he buried the home team's MSG in Game 5 of the playoffs and ended the night with a Broadway bow.
This time it was Vegas Roll.
“If we don't want him to do that, we should win the game,” Brunson said.
