Rolling the dice on his way to Las Vegas, Trae Young shows he's always a safe bet at MSG

NEW YORK (AP) — Trae Young was dribbling out the clock Wednesday night when he leaned down toward New York's center-court logo and pretended he was shooting dice.

“We’re going to Vegas,” the Atlanta guard said, “so that’s what I had to.”

When he's at Madison Square Garden, always bet on Young.

The court was orange this time, but otherwise it looked and felt like the 2021 playoffs. The Knicks had just been eliminated, and Young was celebrating in the middle of their arena.

The star guard had 22 points and 11 assists, leading the Hawks to a 108-100 victory in the NBA Cup quarterfinals. They will head to Las Vegas to play the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday.

Young emerged as a villain to Knicks fans in 2021, when New York reached the postseason for the first time in eight years and drew the Hawks in the first round. They profanely taunted him in Game 1, even mocking his hair, but the point guard got the last word.

He made a runner in the lane with 0.9 seconds remaining to give Atlanta a 107-105 victory in that series opener. When the series returned to New York for Game 5, Young scored 36 points before taking a bow like a Broadway actor as the Hawks finished the series.

He had bowed before as a way to punctuate a victory. The rolling the dice celebration was new for this game.

“I planned that one with my little brother a few days ago,” he said. “We had talked about that and I mean, I knew what I was going to do.”

Young said he didn't hear venom like he did in 2021 until late in the game. The Knicks controlled the first half, leading by 12 at one point, but Atlanta turned things around in the third quarter.

Young, the NBA's assists leader, was right in the middle of the decisive rally. He scored eight straight points in one stretch of the third quarter, pointing to the floor to show how deep he was when he made a 31-footer for his second consecutive 3-pointer.

“There was a point in the game when he could feel the game,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said.

The Hawks outscored the Knicks 61-46 in the second half, seizing such control that a number of fans headed to the exits before the finish. Some who were still there booed Young one last time during his celebration.

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

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Atlanta Hawks' Trae Young (11) drives past New York Knicks' Mikal Bridges during the first half of an Emirates NBA Cup basketball game Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Atlanta Hawks' Trae Young (11) drives past New York Knicks' Karl-Anthony Towns (32) during an Emirates Cup NBA basketball game Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Atlanta Hawks' Trae Young (11) drives past New York Knicks' Josh Hart (3) during the first half of an Emirates NBA Cup basketball game Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Atlanta Hawks' Trae Young (11) drives past New York Knicks' Mikal Bridges (25), Karl-Anthony Towns (32) and Josh Hart (3) during the first half of an Emirates NBA Cup basketball game Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

JERUSALEM (AP) — Over two dozen families from one of the few remaining Palestinian Bedouin villages in the central West Bank have packed up and fled their homes in recent days, saying harassment by Jewish settlers living in unauthorized outposts nearby has grown unbearable.

The village, Ras Ein el-Auja, was originally home to some 700 people from more than 100 families that have lived there for decades.

Twenty-six families already left on Thursday, scattering across the territory in search of safer ground, say rights groups. Several other families were packing up and leaving on Sunday.

“We have been suffering greatly from the settlers. Every day, they come on foot, or on tractors, or on horseback with their sheep into our homes. They enter people’s homes daily,” said Nayef Zayed, a resident, as neighbors took down sheep pens and tin structures.

Israel's military and the local settler governing body in the area did not respond to requests for comment.

Other residents pledged to stay put for the time being. That makes them some of the last Palestinians left in the area, said Sarit Michaeli, international director at B’Tselem, an Israeli rights group helping the residents.

She said that mounting settler violence has already emptied neighboring Palestinian hamlets in the dusty corridor of land stretching from Ramallah in the West to Jericho, along the Jordanian border, in the east.

The area is part of the 60% of the West Bank that has remained under full Israeli control under interim peace accords signed in the 1990s. Since the war between Israel and Hamas erupted in October 2023, over 2,000 Palestinians — at least 44 entire communities — have been expelled by settler violence in the area, B'Tselem says.

The turning point for the village came in December, when settlers put up an outpost about 50 meters (yards) from Palestinian homes on the northwestern flank of the village, said Michaeli and Sam Stein, an activist who has been living in the village for a month.

Settlers strolled easily through the village at night. Sheep and laundry went missing. International activists had to begin escorting children to school to keep them safe.

“The settlers attack us day and night, they have displaced us, they harass us in every way” said Eyad Isaac, another resident. “They intimidate the children and women.”

Michaeli said she’s witnessed settlers walk around the village at night, going into homes to film women and children and tampering with the village’s electricity.

The residents said they call the police frequently to ask for help — but it seldom arrives. Settlement expansion has been promoted by successive Israeli governments over nearly six decades. But Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government, which has placed settler leaders in senior positions, has made it a top priority.

That growth has been accompanied by a spike in settler violence, much of it carried out by residents of unauthorized outposts. These outposts often begin with small farms or shepherding that are used to seize land, say Palestinians and anti-settlement activists. United Nations officials warn the trend is changing the map of the West Bank, entrenching Israeli presence in the area.

Some 500,000 Israelis have settled in the West Bank since Israel captured the territory, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast war. Their presence is viewed by most of the international community as illegal and a major obstacle to peace. The Palestinians seek all three areas for a future state.

For now, displaced families of the village have dispersed between other villages near the city of Jericho and near Hebron further south, said residents. Some sold their sheep and are trying to move into the cities.

Others are just dismantling their structures without knowing where to go.

"Where will we go? There’s nowhere. We’re scattered,” said Zayed, the resident, “People’s situation is bad. Very bad.”

An Israeli settler herds his flock near his outpost beside the Palestinian village of Ras Ein al-Auja in the West Bank, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

A Palestinian resident of Ras Ein al-Auja village, West Bank burns trash, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Palestinian children play in the West Bank village of Ras Ein al-Auja, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Palestinian residents of Ras Ein al-Auja village, West Bank pack up their belongings and prepare to leave their homes after deciding to flee mounting settler violence, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Palestinian residents of Ras Ein al-Auja village, West Bank pack up their belongings and prepare to leave their homes after deciding to flee mounting settler violence, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)