Knicks' Mikal Bridges holds Trae Young in check, gets it done on both ends of the court 

This time there was no dice-throwing at center court.

This time there was no nasty taunting, no in-your-face celebration, no new way for Atlanta’s Trae Young to stick it to the Knicks and the fans he so loves to hate.

You could say Young ran out of luck Monday in the Knicks' 119-110 victory over the Hawks at Madison Square Garden. But it’s more accurate to say that he ran into Mikal Bridges and a defense that was determined to keep the Atlanta guard from playing the villain role he so frequently has played at the Garden.

Young, who had celebrated Atlanta’s win here in December by pretending to shoot dice on the Knicks'  logo, walked quietly off the court Monday, stopping to shake hands or hug a few of his Knicks opponents, including Bridges. Young finished with 27 points and six assists but had nine turnovers .and shot 1-for-8 in the fourth quarter. He missed all three of his three-point attempts and turned the ball over three times in the quarter.

“It was the way he guarded Trae,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said when asked about Bridges. “There’s a million pick-and-rolls you have to defend. I thought he was really disciplined.”

Knicks fans had an indication early that things were going to be different.  With the Knicks trailing 18-8, Bridges forced Young into a 24-second violation that sent Garden fans into a state of near-delirium.

“Just try to get a stop,” Bridges said. “I know he’s crafty and didn’t want him to score and I know my teammates have my back and I'm just trying to guard him. I heard the Garden. It got loud.”

Josh Hart said he could see how that stop got Bridges going.

“He was feeding off of that,” Hart said. “We need him big time, offensively and most important defensively. It was a good game for him.”

Bridges also played a big role offensively despite playing only 27:26. After missing his first three shots, he went 12-for-14 and finished with 26 points and four assists. He scored 14 of the Knicks' 40 third-quarter points as they turned a 62-54 halftime deficit into a 94-89 lead.

“Me and Trae always have battles like this for years,” Bridges said. “There’s like trash-talking and I think it gets both of us going.”

Young became one of the most reviled villains in Knicks history when he helped Atlanta eliminate them from the first round of the 2021 NBA playoffs in five games.

After hitting a game-winning floater to steal home-court advantage in the first game of that series, Young turned to the fans and raised his finger to his lips as if to drive home the fact that his shot had made them despondently silent. Then, after closing out the series in Game 5, he turned toward the fans and bowed.

Not a single active member of the Knicks' current roster was on that team,  but that didn’t matter a bit to Young  last month at Madison Square Garden when the teams met to decide which would advance to the NBA Cup semifinals  in Las Vegas. Young’s desire to stick it to the Knicks has always been more about their fans than the specific players on the team’s roster.

And so, as he dribbled out what would be the final seconds of Atlanta’s 108-100 victory, Young got down on one knee, blew into his hand and then threw imaginary dice onto the Garden floor. He then repeated the gesture before swiping the floor with his hand as if he were snatching some money.

Bridges' timing to change the narrative couldn’t have been better as the Knicks attempt to win the second game of a back-to-back Tuesday night against  the Nets in Brooklyn. The game will mark Bridges' first game at Barclays Center since he was traded from the Nets to the Knicks in the offseason for four first-round picks and a pick swap.

The Knicks gave up a lot in that trade, but Bridges   has shown that they got a lot back.

By Barbara Barker

barbara.barker@newsday.commeanbarb

Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.