Knicks need a quick response with status as serious title contenders already slipping away

The Knicks have three days off to let it marinate, to ruminate. They have 95 hours between games to think about the way they were abused on the glass by the Hawks, about the way they were outworked by a younger and faster team, about the way Trae Young gloated on their logo as they watched helplessly before retreating to the locker room, tails between legs.

“We should win if we don’t want him to do that,” Jalen Brunson said.

That’s the proper response, by the way. Any postgame anger toward Young’s cee-lo celebration might’ve generated some short-term zest from the fan base but would’ve come off as bitterness and a deflection in the long run. The Knicks make enough excuses about the officiating. Trae deserves his petty moment after hearing, for years, his name and hairline besmirched by New York sports fans.

If Mikal Bridges can stare down the bench after every 3-pointer and stick out his tongue, Trae can pretend to play craps on the Knicks logo. The only acceptable response would’ve been for a Knicks player, perhaps nearby Josh Hart, to blitz Young mid-celebration and attempt to dislodge the ball before the final buzzer, unafraid of picking up a common foul — not a flagrant one — in the process. At the very least, it would’ve disrupted Young’s rehearsed performance.