Young rolls the dice as Hawks seal Las Vegas trip

Trae Young infuriated the New York Knicks with his dice-rolling celebration after Atlanta sealed a spot in the NBA Cup semifinals, but Jalen Brunson did not begrudge the Hawks guard his big moment.

Young had 22 points and 11 assists as the Hawks triumphed 108-100 at Madison Square Garden, taking their surprise NBA Cup run all the way to the last four in Las Vegas.

The Knicks had led for most of the game before Young scored eight points – including 3-pointers on back-to-back drives – in the third quarter to turn the tide.

Young has previous for enraging the Knicks on their own court, having stood on the team's logo and waved to the crowd after the Hawks eliminated them from the 2021 playoffs.

This time around, he knelt down in the same spot and pretended to roll dice to celebrate his team sealing a place in Saturday's semifinals in Sin City.

"We're going to Vegas, so that's what I had to," Young said. "I planned that one with my little brother a few days ago.

"We had talked about that, and I knew what I was going to do."

Trae threw dice on the logo pic.twitter.com/blX2va3IVB
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) December 12, 2024

New York star Brunson knew his team could not begrudge Young his celebration, however, saying: "We should win the game if we don't want him to do that."

Atlanta will face the Milwaukee Bucks for a place in the NBA Cup title game next time out, and center Clint Capela believes something special is in the offing for the team.

"That's where you take a team's soul, and we felt like we did that tonight," Capela said.

"I think it shows us that we can be a really, really special team when we can shut down multiple possessions like that.

"We're getting better in terms of our rhythm, and some of our new guys are starting to really gain confidence."

While the Hawks continue to hunt a first trophy since their 2021 Southeast Division title, the 15-10 Knicks are back in regular-season action against the Orlando Magic on Saturday.