Hawks 107, Knicks 105: Scenes from a reminder that the basketball gods still hate the Knicks

Well, that was...educational.

You youngbloods who haven’t watched much (if any) Knicks playoffs basketball needed to learn the lesson, I suppose: Knicks playoff basketball is mostly torture.

Our guys played the Atlanta Hawks tough in Game 1 despite Julius Randle playing perhaps his worst game of the season. They held a lead for most of the fourth quarter, though they could never extend it beyond 4-5 points. That set up Trae Young — he of the haircut that looks like lumberjack pubes — to be the hero. Trae did what Trae does: hit some big shots and draw some bullshit fouls. We were hoping those calls might go away come playoff time. Boy, were we wrong.

The Hawks took the lead on the most questionable of foul calls. Tom Thibodeau challenged, to no avail. The Knicks, as they have often this season, responded with a clutch bucket to tie the game with :09 remaining. Too much time.

Indeed, Young shook longtime Knicks fan favorite Frank Ntilikina — who played all of two possessions in the game, but was inserted in the stopper role — and hit the game-winner. He then shushed the MSG crowd and talked a bunch of shit.

And so Young joins the long list of players who have crushed the Knicks in the playoffs. It’s a bizarre list, including Michael Jordan (the GOAT), Reggie Miller (now doing a Steve Urkel impression in Wendy’s commercials) and Roy Hibbert (basically out of the league two years after clowning the Knicks in 2013).

Postseason basketball is pain, friends. Recap to come. Enjoy your workweek.