After Trae Young hit a game-winning floater against the Knicks in Game 1 on Sunday, he held his finger over his mouth and stared at the Garden crowd.
Essentially, he was telling the 15,000 fans on hand to quiet down.
Young’s gesture was in response to the “F*** Trae Young” chants from Knicks fans at the Garden on Sunday.
“If they hate me that much, I’m obviously doing something right,” Young said after the game. “I’ve just got to let my play do the talking. At the end of the day, fans can only talk. They can’t guard me.”
“It got quiet after I hit the shot,” Young added. “That’s about it.”
Young seemed to revel in his role as villain at the Garden on Sunday.
He had 32 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds in the Hawks’ win.
The Garden crowd — New York State’s largest indoor crowd since the start of the pandemic — chanted at Young throughout the game on Sunday.
But Young never seemed to get rattled.
He scored or assisted on 21 of Atlanta’s 36 fourth-quarter points.
On the Hawks’ final play, it seemed like John Collins was prepared to set a screen for Young. Collins’ shoe came off amid contact with Taj Gibson, so Young waived off the screen and drove by Frank Ntilikina without help from a screener.
He hit a floater, and then put his finger over his mouth to shush the Garden crowd.
“I definitely know the history of players coming in here and being hated,” Young said afterward. “Like I said, I take that as a compliment to be honest with you. Obviously I’m doing something right if you hate me that much. I embrace it and try to focus on my team and trying to help my team win. At the end of the day, we’ll get the last laugh if we do that.”