Stephen A. Smith rants at Charles Barkley, Shaq for Knicks hate

On Wednesday evening, Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks went up two games to zero in their first round playoff series vs the Indiana Pacers with a thrilling win at Madison Square Garden. Brunson actually left this game in the first half with a sore foot and was forced to miss the entirety of the second quarter; however, the former Villanova Wildcat would eventually return for the second half and make several crucial plays down the stretch to give the Knicks an impressive 4-1 record at home so far in these playoffs.

Immediately after the game, TNT’s coverage switched over from their broadcast crew in the arena to the Inside the NBA crew back in Atlanta, and right away, Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal began taking shots at the Knicks and the city of New York as a whole, for no apparent reason.

“I would love to see them get their a** stomped, that’d be great,” said Barkley, via Awful Announcing on X, the social media platform formerly referred to as Twitter. “…The New Yorkers, y’all deserve it. Y’all think y’all the greatest thing since sliced bread.”

“Tell ’em, Chuck,” implored O’Neal.

“Y’all overrated,” finished Barkley.”

One person who wasn’t thrilled with the bizarre disrespect was occasional Knicks fan and sports media personality Stephen A. Smith, who took to ESPN’s First Take to give his response.

“Chuck needs to shut the hell up,” said Smith. “…the only time his behind shows up in New York City is when he was doing the show with Gayle King for CNN or when he’s doing the NCAA Tournament. Other than that, he ain’t interested in New York City. And by the way, if you paid attention, we’re actually the opposite. We know we’re not all that. That’s part of our problem… we’re not delusional. We know how sickening the Knicks have been, which is why we’re on this high right now, because we see them legitimately scratching and grinding and clawing.”

While Stephen A. Smith might not be the best spokesman for the Knicks fanbase considering he has proven himself to be not all that familiar with the roster itself, it remains true that Barkley’s comments were bizarre, to say the least.

How far can the Knicks go?

The Knicks are now within two games of clinching their first Eastern Conference Finals birth in over two decades, and if they do so, they will more than likely match up with the Boston Celtics, who have been the NBA’s best team over the entirety of the season.

If New York is able to complete a sweep of the Pacers this weekend in Games 3 and 4, then Knicks fans won’t have to hear another word from Barkley’s mouth this season, as both Friday’s game and Sunday’s game are on ESPN networks, and the conference finals this year are set to take place exclusively on ESPN.

In any case, Friday evening’s game is slated to take place at 7:00 PM ET from the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indiana on ESPN.