But when crunch time arrives, the Hawks can bring Johnson and Daniels in the mix to run small-small pick-and-rolls with Young. Teams such as the Knicks will show two players on Young, and that’s when he threads the pass to his rolling teammate.

The Hawks took their surprising NBA Cup run all the way to the semifinals in Las Vegas, beating the Knicks on Wednesday night.

Most of the players may be different, but there was a 2021 feel to this NBA Cup quarterfinal. Trae Young and the Hawks surged ahead in the second half to overwhelm the Knicks and advance to a semifinal game against Milwaukee in Las Vegas.

Trae Young and the New York Knicks have had no shortage of run-ins through the years, headlined by the first round of the 2021 Eastern Conference playoffs.

Trae Young leads the 13-12 Atlanta Hawks into an NBA Cup elimination game Wednesday night. The Knicks (15-9) are favored to win, but their audience will undoubtedly be on edge until the final whistle.

No current member of the New York Knicks was with the team in 2021, when the Knicks suffered a five-game loss to the Atlanta Hawks in an Eastern Conference first-round series.