The previous time Trae Young faced the Knicks in an elimination game, nearly five years ago, he buried the home team at MSG and finished the evening with a Broadway Bow.
Hawks-Knicks had the makings of an intense rivalry back then, with a pair of youthful, rising franchises.
If any team held the advantage in 2021, it was the Hawks because of Young and the way they handled the Knicks in five games of the opening round.
But the teams subsequently went in different directions.
The Knicks’ progress wasn’t exactly linear — there was that anomalous 2021-22 campaign — but they certainly rose over the next three seasons.
The Hawks, on the other hand, mostly just fell.
Symbolic of those directions since the 2021 playoffs, the Knicks were heavy favorites in Wednesday’s NBA Cup quarters and clearly comfortable facing the Hawks.
New York had an opportunity to chase the East’s top seed of the NBA Cup — which would’ve meant a showdown against the Celtics in the quarterfinals instead — but eased up down the stretch of the final group stage game to maintain the point differential for a Hawks matchup.
In the Magic game, the Knicks were up by 31 with six minutes remaining and won by only 15. A victory by 37 or more would’ve meant a quarterfinal against the Celtics.
While Tom Thibodeau played it coy, Josh Hart basically acknowledged the Knicks were aware of the implications as their lead dissolved.
It was a smart move for a number of reasons, including that the NBA Cup doubles as regular-season games. Who would want an extra game against Boston on the schedule?
So the Knicks faced the Hawks and Young, who had been losing so much since the 2021 playoffs that his coach Quin Snyder wanted to leave the past in the rearview mirror.
“One of the big things for us is we really are moving forward,” Snyder said. “And part of it is Trae’s challenge this year is to maintain and continue to do a lot of things that make him the player he is, but also to evolve.”
Snyder’s vague outline of the “evolution” includes better leadership from Young and focusing on ball movement. But the Hawks were just one game above .500 heading into Wednesday.
The Knicks were 15-9 and have a higher ceiling but also don’t resemble the team that faced the Hawks in 2021.
In fact, they have zero players on the roster who participated in that series.
“And that’s sort of the nature of the league,” Tom Thibodeau said. “There’s constant change and it’s how quickly can you adapt? It could be injury, it could be free agency. There’s so many different variables that go into it. And even sometimes you come back with the same team and you don’t play the same way.
“I think that’s the challenge every year — you start over. The league itself, there’s constant change. It’s how quickly you can adapt.”
The Hawks have several players left from the 2021 series, including Young, Clint Capela, Bogdan Bogdanovic, DeAndre Hunter and Onyeka Okongwu.
But they understood there was no carryover.
“Obviously, it’s a great souvenir (that we eliminated the Knicks at MSG),” Capela said. “But it’s a whole new team and we’re aware of that. They don’t even have one player left. That’s crazy.”