It wasn’t the dagger. It was the twist.
The nadir might’ve come with 2:30 left in the third quarter, when Trae Young took the ball past the timeline and shimmied past Nuggets guard Will Barton into open real estate along the right elbow.
Young, the Atlanta Hawks’ supercilious second-year guard, stopped and popped a few feet in front of the baseline, launching an off-balance, rainbow swish just inside the arc that pushed the visitors’ lead to 92-80.
He then did a complete 360, turning and staring at the Nuggets bench behind him for a few seconds before walking back to the other end of the floor.