Michelle Beadle is urging Knicks fans to choose a new fight.
During Monday’s edition of FanDuel TV’s “Run It Back”, the reporter, who is a part of the Spurs broadcast team, attacked Knicks fans over Victor Wembanyama leaving Game 5 without shaking hands.
“One of my favorite things that’s come out of all this is the crying that has occurred because it appeared Wemby didn’t shake the hands of the Knicks afterward, and now we don’t like that,” Beadle said in a mocking tone on the episode.
“‘It’s arrogant, he’s a bad guy,’ there’s a lot of Knicks doing that to whom I respond, go burn something else down and maybe worry about what’s classy and what’s not.”
Beadle’s reaction didn’t sit well with Knicks fans on social media.
“There will never be a day that Michelle Beadle gives the Knicks any credit whatsoever. This is not surprising,” one fan wrote on X.
“This crazy to me cuz if we lost this series in the same way the Spurs lost and we didn’t shake hands? The convo would be HELL surrounding us,” another fan posted on X.
After the Spurs lost Game 5 of the NBA Finals to the Knicks Saturday night, the Spurs star walked immediatley off the court after the final buzzer and many other Spurs followed suit.
He received a lot of heat for the decision and how he carried himself throughout the playoffs across social media.
“Wemby not shaking hands with the Thunder or Knicks at the end of each series is so lame,” an X user wrote.
“Wemby of course walks off the court and doesn’t shake hands, very bad look,” another said.
Longtime broadcaster Dan Patrick also offered his two cents on Wembanyama’s way of handling the spotlight this season.
“I think Wemby got exposed in a variety of ways here,” Patrick said. “I think he came off as petty. I think he came off occasionally as a guy who would give a cheap shot. I didn’t like sort of how he ended the series. Go find Jalen Brunson. I mean, Jalen Brunson was all class.”
The Spurs phenom left the court without showing the same postgame sportsmanship as Brunson, who made an effort to find Spurs coach Mitch Johnson for a handshake immediately after the final buzzer before joining his teammates.
Beyond just not shaking hands after losing the series, Wembanyama became public enemy No. 1 among Knicks fans during the Finals.
Wembanyama shoved Brunson to the floor in Game 3, but wasn’t called for a flagrant foul, let alone a general foul. In the Spurs epic Game 4 collapse, Wembanyama was called for a flagrant after elbowing Karl-Anthony Towns.
Brunson also refrained from retalitating against the Defensive Player of the Year after he shoved the Finals MVP to the ground.
Still, to Wembanyama’s credit, he admitted this would all be a learning experience for him in the postgame press conference.
“This is the biggest lesson of my life, the biggest learning moment, Wembanyama said. “I can’t tell you exactly what the lesson is. But we’re learning from that. I’m learning more than any other time in my life.”
