Doubters. Haters. Trae Young Has Them. He Doesn’t Care.

Young, the Atlanta Hawks guard, has embraced the booing, cursing crowds and his opponents’ defensive pressure. What he hasn’t embraced? Low expectations.

Nate McMillan, more than most, knows the unpredictable nature of a point guard equipped with unflinching confidence. As a member of the Seattle SuperSonics, McMillan shared a backcourt with Gary Payton. The brash Payton scored on nearly everyone and backed down from absolutely no one, Michael Jordan included. So McMillan, now the interim coach of the fifth-seeded Atlanta Hawks, did not panic when the shot of his star guard, Trae Young, was off throughout much of his team’s deciding Game 7 in the N.B.A.’s Eastern Conference semifinals on Sunday night against the top-seeded Philadelphia 76ers.