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After a three-game lull earlier this month, the New York Knicks have corrected course with postseason play looming, having won three straight contests. In doing so, they’ve managed to keep pace in the race for a top-four seed in the Eastern Conference.
However, their latest win — against the West-leading Denver Nuggets on Saturday — seemingly put a stamp of legitimacy on the club’s meteoric rise since February’s NBA trade deadline.
Unsurprisingly, fans in the Big Apple have been reinvigorated by the run, during which the Knicks have posted a 12-3 record and moved within 2.5 games of the Cleveland Cavaliers for the No. 4 spot in the conference.
As platinum-selling rapper and lifelong Knicks fan Fat Joe sees it, though, not everyone is worthy of a spot on the team’s bandwagon.
Fat Joe Has No Time for Brooklyn Nets Fans Trying to Co-Opt the New York Knicks
Over the weekend, Fat Joe — whose 2002 single “What’s Luv?” reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 — took to Instagram Live to celebrate his team’s comeback win over the Nuggets. Very clearly, the Bronx native was hyped over the result and his team’s swagger as the 2022-23 regular season concludes.
That said, he has obviously not been impressed by those who have switched allegiances from the crosstown Brooklyn Nets in order to ride the Knicks’ current wave.
“My Knicks? Phenomenal. Hottest team in the NBA. What’s up? [Jalen] Brunson back, we beat [Nikola Jokic]. You gotta stop,” Joe said. “Look, do me a favor, fake people. All of a sudden, I’m driving around New York, and I’m seeing Knicks jackets, Knicks hats — they coming up to me, ‘Yeah, brother! Let’s go Knicks!’
“No, you is Brooklyn. You know how you on Instagram and get them fake, little ads now, ‘Yo Brooklyn Nets fans?’ My, how the tables have turned.”
He’s not wrong; entering the campaign, there was a level of hope that Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and a reenergized Ben Simmons could take Brooklyn to the promised land. Meanwhile, the Knicks were being slept on after a disastrous 2021-22.
Flash forward to now and two-thirds of the Nets’ old star trio is playing in the Western Conference, while the Knicks are aiming to sneak into the East’s top four for the second time in three years.
Knicks Owner James Dolan Hired PI to Tail State Liquor Authority
Per a March 16 report from the New York Times, Knicks owner James Dolan hired a private investigator to follow the comings and goings of New York State Liquor Authority investigator Charles Stravalle, who was assigned by the state to look into the organization.
Dolan and MSG Entertainment are in hot water for using facial recognition software to identify and bar lawyers who are working on cases against both parties. Stravalle had been tapped to determine whether those actions broke state beverage laws requiring establishments to admit the general public.
In court papers filed last week, MSG acknowledged having hired a PI to tail Stravalle, something it described as “a common and lawful practice.”
The back-and-forth between Dolan and the State Liquor Authority comes at a critical time, as Madison Square Garden’s license to operate a sports arena in NYC is set to expire in July; Dolan and Co. have been angling for city officials to renew it permanently.
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Platinum-Selling Rapper Puts ‘Fake’ Knicks Fans on Blast