Charles Oakley spent 10 years enforcing the paint as a power forward for the New York Knicks, but he hasn’t stepped foot inside Madison Square Garden to watch his old team play in nearly a decade. Way back in 2017, Oakley was arrested and charged with assault and trespassing after an altercation at MSG in which he yelled at Knicks owner James Dolan and fought with security personnel. In the passing time, the two sides have not reconciled.
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Oakley was initially banned from the Garden for a year, but even after that was lifted, he still refused to return until he received an apology from Dolan for what went down. No apology has been given, and by this point, it doesn’t look like one ever will.
Oak made an appearance on the Nightcap podcast last night, and Shannon Sharpe used the opportunity to try to be a peacemaker.
“Do I need to put a call in to Dolan to say, ‘Look here, man, that’s old. He a fan favorite, he a crowd favorite, he a New York favorite. You got to have Oak in the building!'”
Oakley was the consummate tough guy during his playing days, and he kept that persona strong here as he basically rebuffed Sharpe’s attempts at an olive branch while throwing gasoline on the fire with a politically charged shot.
“We’ll see what happens,” Oakley said. “I been tryin’ to get things situated with him, but he’s just one of them guys. I call him Trump’s nephew.”
An exasperated Sharpe said, “Well damn, Oak, you ain’t helping! I’m trying to get you in; you’re trying to stay out!” but Oakley didn’t think it was so bad. “I ain’t call him Diddy’s nephew,” he said in an attempt to downplay it.
Oakley won’t likely be in attendance Friday night, but if the Knicks win, maybe he’ll catch them on the road in the next round.
Knicks must win Game 6 for Oakley to see them in the Finals
Even though the Celtics lost their best player when Jayson Tatum went down with a torn Achilles in Game 4, they put together their best offensive game in the series without him last night, scoring 127 points. That should scare Oakley and all other Knicks fans because all the pressure is now on the Knicks to close it out at home.
Jaylen Brown and Derrick White stepped up in Tatum’s absence to combine for 60 points, and Luke Kornet came out of nowhere to do his best Kristaps Porzingis impression as the big Latvian again struggled. Their efforts, along with Jalen Brunson’s foul trouble and OG Anunoby’s dreadful 1-12 shooting, led to an easy Celtics win.
Despite being just a game away from their first Eastern Conference Finals in 25 years, the Knicks are just 2-3 at the Garden this postseason, and they’re only 1-3 against the Celtics at home when including the regular season.
The last time the Knicks clinched a playoff series on their home court was 1999. That’s one year after they traded Oakley to the Raptors for Marcus Camby. Just like back then, they’ll be trying to clinch without Oakley in the building. We’ll see if they can tomorrow night.
