New York Knicks have found a new public enemy in Atlanta Hawks star Trae Young, who has terrorized New York City once again.
Knicks fans run on two things: unending hope that this year is their year, and the rage that follows when this year is ultimately not their year.
Usually, it’s helpful when that rage can be directed somewhere, or rather, at someone. Indiana Pacers legend Reggie Miller was New York’s greatest villain in the 1990s, but in the 2020s, New York’s villain hails from Atlanta. After being silenced yet again with a 45-point performance, Knicks fans further crystallize their burning hatred for Trae Young.
As New York channels their Knicks passion into furor, Young then takes the insults and jeering hurled his way and fuels his performance on it. Young callously told a Knicks heckler to “hold that L” for him while he was playing.
Trae Young is Public Enemy No. 1 for the New York Knicks
New York’s hatred for Reggie Miller was so strong and so deep that it became the subject of a 2010 ESPN 30 For 30 documentary titled, “Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The NY Knicks.”
It was the result of a fierce rivalry between the Indiana Pacers and the New York Knicks in the early 1990s.
“The [1995 NBA Finals] series was front page news in the NYC tabloids, a war of words between the glib Miller and Knick fanatic Spike Lee, included appearances on David Letterman, pronouncements by Rudy Giuliani, fistfights between teammates, near riots by Indiana fans, chokes, overtimes, finger rolls and bitterness not only between Hall of Fame coaches, Pat Riley and Larry Brown, but between the two most precious basketball cultures in America — Hoosier Land vs. ‘New Yawk,’” reads a description for the documentary.
Three decades later, a new anthem is being shouted from New York rooftops: “F*** Trae Young.” A rapper has even created a song using those words as the hook, a surefire anthem for true Knicks fans.
Now, Young can continue Miller’s mission of terrorizing New York and giving Knicks fans a place to direct their frustrations.