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I’m Having a Blast Watching Knicks Fans Complain About the Refs
By Matt Schultz
Published:
The Knicks dropped Game 3 of the NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden on Monday night, and while there are plenty of actual basketball reasons that explain how the Spurs secured the win, Knicks fans don’t want to talk about that. They want to talk about how New York got screwed by the refs:
Even Knicks head coach Mike Brown got in on the bitching:
“I never thought I’d be in the NBA Finals and see a team get 24 free throw attempts in the second half to the other team’s 8. And I don’t think I complain much about officials or you know the fairness when it comes to the free throw attempts… Maybe we were fouling, but they fouled too. There were opportunities for fouls to be called, to at least try to even the free throws out.”
I love this. This rules. If you’re a fellow Knicks hater, I implore you to savor this moment. The Spurs went into MSG on Monday night and, in front of all the Knicks’ bandwagon celebrity fans and millionaire New York transplants who can afford to buy a ticket, punched the Knicks right in the mouth. And Knicks fans simply cannot handle it. They’re spazzing. They’re lashing out. They’re fighting in the streets. They’re accusing anyone and everyone of wrongdoing – except Jalen Brunson, who committed 5 turnovers and shot a measly 11-of-25 from the field.
To watch this fanbase cope so poorly by whining about the refs, after spending the entire playoffs touting their Knicks as the toughest, grittiest team in the NBA – a narrative they created, by the way – is truly a thing of beauty. I wish there were more time between now and Game 4 so we could enjoy this collective Knicks fans’ breakdown even longer.
Sadly, we only get another day of watching this stuff. Here’s to hoping the Spurs can keep this thing going with a Game 4 win on Wednesday night.
Matt Schultz is a comedy and sports writer from Philadelphia. He’s written extensively for ClickHole, The Onion, and Conan O’Brien’s Team Coco. His work has been featured in Vulture, Deadspin, The A.V. Club, Paste Magazine, and other publications. Much of his sports journalism can be found on college basketball websites that don’t exist anymore (PhilaHoops Heads rise up…) email: M.Schultz@sportradar.com