Knicks foe Trae Young another MSG villain thriving on boos

As the pregame introductions were read before the start of the game Wednesday at Madison Square Garden the sold-out crowd was mostly indifferent to the first four names called off by public address announcer Mike Walczewski. And then, before he could even get the words out the boos loudly drowned out anything he said, a barely audible “six-foot-one from Oklahoma, Trae Young.”

There is no player who elicits a greater reaction at the Garden, maybe the boos and chants directed at him even louder than any cheers for the hometown Knicks. And there is no player who embraces it more than Young.

There have been players who thrived in the villain role at Madison Square Garden. Reggie Miller lived it and loved it, spending years frustrating John Starks to a boiling point. And Young has stepped onto the stage playing the role to perfection.

The venom began in full in the playoffs two seasons ago, the Knicks with home-court advantage in the opening round series against the Hawks. Young took over the Garden, 32 points and the game-winning shot in Game 1, 30 more in Game 2 and then returning for a 36-point effort to knock the Knicks out in Game 5. He was spit on in the playoffs, then-mayor Bill de Blasio tried to score political points by imploring Young to stop hunting fouls, noting, “That Hawk’s not going to fly in New York City.”

“I think everybody loves it — it’s the Garden,” Hawks coach Nate McMillan said. “The tradition of playing here, I can remember the first time I played here I was at North Carolina State. I think everybody looks at this as a special place to play.

“Of course he gets excited. I haven’t talked to him about this. Trae feeds off of that. He’s a big moment player. You come to the Garden it’s a big moment, it’s a big place to play. All the good players I think in the league look forward to coming here and playing and playing well.”

After the playoff series two seasons ago — meeting the profane chants with an All-Star performance — Young returned last season one time, sitting out the Christmas Day game. When he did play on March 22, he picked up where he left off, pouring in 45 points to beat the Knicks.

“To be honest, it’s almost like a distraction,” Evan Fournier said Sunday. “For me personally, I’d rather have the fans go crazy and push us rather than go after another player because, actually, I would enjoy it. If I’m Trae Young and I see the whole arena going after me, I enjoy it. It means I’m good. It means I’m freaking good. Have the whole arena want to see me struggle, then I know I own them.”

The Hawks entered the game with a 4-3 record while the Knicks were more focused on righting their own play after two consecutive losses on the road. But to do that they were aware it would start with trying to contain Young.

“Trae Young poses a lot of problems,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said Tuesday. “They added [Dejounte] Murray. They got a lot of weapons. They put good pressure on the rim. [DeAndre] Hunter is a very underrated player. They have a solid bench. Multiple pick-and-rolls. Great shooting ability. So . . . you don’t guard a guy like Young individually. You have to guard him as best you can with your team, try to make him work for his shots.”

By Steve Popper

steve.popper@newsday.com@StevePopper

Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.