NBA playoffs New York Knicks Atlanta Hawks CJ McCollum Trae Young Madison Square Garden playoff villains basketball chants Game 5

Near the end of the New York Knicks' Game 1 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday, the rowdy home fans started chanting, "Fuck Trae Young!" This, despite the fact that it has been several years since Young earned the city's ire by knocking the Knicks out of the playoffs. Also, he currently plays for the Washington Wizards.

Maybe the once-ubiquitous chant returned to Madison Square Garden in Game 1 just because it's fun to yell, or maybe it was a harsh appraisal of the 2025–26 Hawks' ability to offer up a fresh antagonist. The Game 1 crowd spoke too soon.

By the end of the third quarter in Game 2, the home fans had found a new chant: "Fuck you CJ!"

Who is CJ McCollum?

If you are wondering who CJ is, I don't necessarily blame you. Just to clear things up: We're talking about CJ McCollum, who up until being traded to the Hawks in January had spent a handful of years fading into obscurity in the basketball wildernesses of New Orleans and Washington, D.C. Thousands of people who watch basketball every night have not thought about this man in a half-decade.

And yet McCollum came into this series as Atlanta's most accomplished postseason performer, and by the time Game 2 was over, he had put some fresh ink on his surprisingly robust playoff résumé. He finished the night with a game-high 32 points, leading the Hawks to a 107-106 victory.

Source: Defector
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