Madison Square Garden waited 26 years to host an NBA Finals game, but the home fans saw a loss on Monday night when the San Antonio Spurs beat the Knicks in Game 3 to trim New York’s series lead to 2-1. After the game, there were multiple reports of Knicks fans physically attacking Spurs fans on the streets. The viral videos of the assaults are so ugly that Victor Wembanyama, Karl-Anthony Towns, and others players pleaded with fans to stop the violence.
Knicks fans attacked Spurs fans in the streets after NBA Finals loss, and players are speaking out
Ricky O'Donnell has covered basketball at all levels for more than a decade at SB Nation. He’s currently the Associate Director of Programming.
In separate incidents, Knicks fans jumped men wearing Spurs jerseys around the city after the loss. The videos are horrifying. This is totally unaccepted behavior from some stupid, young members of the fanbase. No should should be assaulted just because they are wearing another team’s jersey.
The videos elicited a response from star players on both teams. Here’s Wembanyama’s comments on the incidents, via ESPN:
“My thoughts of course [are] that we can’t forget it’s a game,” Wembanyama said. “We’re just playing a game out there. I am all for passion, but [with] the respect of each other. It’s unacceptable.”
Spurs teammate Julian Champagnie added: “I feel like, for the fans, it should never be that serious where you have to jump people, beat people up, follow people home. Whether we win, they win, it doesn’t really matter. Everybody should be able to come and enjoy the game, no matter who they’re rooting for.”
Towns encouraged fans to “Leave the physicality to everyone on the court.”
Warning: The video below contains violence that readers may find disturbing.
Obviously this is not all Knicks fans, but a few bad apples are the giving the fanbase a bad reputation. This type of behavior is never acceptable.
Game 4 is Wednesday. Let’s hope this doesn’t happen again.
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