There’s been plenty of discussion lately about the worthiness of the NBA mid-season tournament. Are teams more interested in winning this thing or would they rather skip out on the trip to Vegas and get a week’s rest?
Clearly, the league office will continue to revise whether they should play the tournament in its current format or tweak it further to ensure both player and fan interest. It’s hard for professional sports leagues that have been around since the dawn of man to generate authenticity, yet the Association still struggles to reach viewers early in the season. Does L.A.’s tournament win last year, Milwaukee’s this year, and their corresponding mini banners, mean anything more, or significantly less, than the NBA titles they’ve won in the past. You already know the answer to that question.
But that’s not what this post is about.
A team that hasn’t won a banner since 1972, the New York Knickerbockers, had a chance to hang one of those baby banners from their rafters, or at least get invited to Las Vegas to try.
The Atlanta Hawks and Trae Young had something to say about that first.

The last time we saw Trae Young in the Garden, he was waving goodbye to Knicks fans as they left the building… while he was being interviewed and talking shit to them as they exited stage left! Knicks fans aren’t among the most downtrodden fans in professional sports, but they’re starting to rank higher on the Cleveland Browns Scale of Futility the farther Willis Reed memories appear in their rear-view mirror.
With a trip to Vegas on the line, there was no way Trae Young could waltz back into the Mecca and hand the Knicks another devastating loss on their home floor. I mean, no WAY the Knicks would stand for that! After all, they added Karl Anthony Towns in the off-season and, while talented and flying-under-the-radar for any fringe NBA fan, Young is still the only Hawk most fans know by name.
Well, guess what. He did it again, making this Angry Gambler that much more perturbed.
Under the assumption (we know what happens when you assume) that the Knicks would not tolerate another embarrassing home loss to a lesser team, Knicks money line was the play.
Additionally, last year’s playoff superstar who elevated himself to Never Buy Another Drink in Manhattan status last June by averaging 40 a night in the clutch, Jalen Brunson would most certainly put his foot down. He would channel his post-season form, remind Young who’s house this is and drop another 40 at plus money.
Uh… that didn’t happen either and the media bashed Brunson as boldly as they celebrated him last summer. Young dropped 22 points and 11 assists on a night he didn’t shoot the ball particularly well. Brunson finished the night with 14 points, 11 off his season average. Not even KAT’s 19 points and 19 rebounds could save the Knicks another embarrassing loss from a play-in team.
At the end of the game, the understandably confident Young once again taunted New York fans, simulated rolling dice at center court, indicating his Hawks were going to Vegas while the Knicks were not. A move like that in the nineties would have got a guy killed with Anthony Mason and John Starks waiting outside the arena with a pipe wrench.
After a brawl in last year’s Michigan-Ohio State football game led to uniformed players getting maced, one Ohio lawmaker proposed making planting a flag in Columbus a felony. Oh, the irony. New York lawmakers, of which there are plenty, might want to consider doing the same for Madison Square Garden or at a minimum make sure Trae Young misses his flight next to LaGuardia. But once again, losing big games is something Knicks fans are accustomed to.
And so, my hunches of Knicks money line and Brunson’s big night were off base, and we disgruntledly welcome the Knicks into Never-Cover-At-Home status for this Angry Gambler, especially when Atlanta comes to town.
NOTE: They’re playing today!
Running Angry Gambler Tally:
Lakers when they’re anything but huge underdogs (1)
Clippers when they’re anything but huge underdogs (1)
James Harden Assist Total (1)
New York Knicks when hosting the Atlanta Hawks (1)