Draymond Green to Knicks fans: “You’re throwing a parade before winning anything”
From JR Smith getting swallowed by the crowd outside Madison Square Garden to dolls of Tyrese Haliburton being punched, Draymond Green calls out a fan base celebrating like the job is already done
Draymond Green sees it this way: some fan bases live basketball with passion, and then there are New York Knicks fans, who treat every win like the final chapter of a story they’ve been waiting 30 years to read.
With four rings on his hand and his usual sharp tongue, the Warriors forward decided it was time to say what few are willing to say out loud.
Here’s the situation: the Knicks just handled Game 2 against the Philadelphia 76ers, taking a 2-0 lead in their playoff series. So far, so good – actually, great. The issue is what’s happening outside the court, on the streets of Manhattan, where the city already seems to be in celebration mode.
He talked about it on Inside the NBA and didn’t hold back:
I’ll tell you right now what the Knicks’ problem is. They win these games and everybody’s already moving around like there’s a parade scheduled. They’re trapping JR Smith outside Madison Square Garden. Don’t have the parade before you’ve won something, Knicks fans. You always do this, then wonder why your players fold in the Conference Finals. The parade already happened
Draymond Green
And yes, the reference to JR Smith was no accident. After Game 1, the crowd outside MSG reportedly went completely wild, pulling in the former Knicks guard, who happened to be nearby. Smith said he ended up on the ground and was swarmed not by people trying to help him, but by phones pointed at him to capture the moment. Telling.
Green’s point – and this is the substance beneath the provocation – is that all this emotional, premature excitement can quickly turn into a boomerang. When the pressure of expectations becomes overwhelming, something breaks down.
And recent Knicks history seems to support the argument: five playoff appearances in the last five years, only one trip to the Conference Finals, and the run ended there. Last season they were favorites against the Indiana Pacers, superior on paper in nearly every way – yet they were eliminated in six games, with Haliburton carving them up.
The series against the 76ers is still wide open. The title is still a long way off. In New York, they know that. Or at least, they should.