Getting hecklers thrown out is a common scene in NBA these days, Julius Randle got into it in his last game against the Miami Heat.
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New York Knicks fans are some of the best fans in basketball, if not the best. A packed Madison Square Garden with the crowd going wild for a team without a winning record for years was a common scene in the NBA until last season.
With 1st time All-Star Julius Randle and head coach Tom Thibodeau leading from the front, the Knicks finished 4th in the Eastern Conference and qualified for the 2021 Playoffs for the first time in 8 years.
Randle also received NBA’s Most Improved Player award at the end of the season for finishing the season with over 24-points, 10-rebounds, and 6-assists. He was putting on career-best numbers in all his columns. But this season saw a drastic turn in his form.
With almost a 6-point average differential from last season, the 27-year-old is on the roughest patch of his career. Already not having great defensive skills in his arsenal, he’s shooting just over 41% from the field and 30% from the perimeter.
The Knicks as a result are having a poor season, resulting in few annoying fans. And rather than being humble amidst his bad form, Randle went to war with a loyal Knicks stan.
Julius Randle got a loyal Knicks fan thrown out and the poor guy is hurt
In their match in Miami on Wednesday night, the Knicks were trailing the Heat in the second quarter on their way to a blowout defeat. That’s when a Long Island native, Dylan Rainey, sitting behind the Knicks bench, said he yelled at Randle from his seat.
“You get a $118 million contract and the fans get a thumbs down? Are you kidding me?’”
It was a reference to Randle flashing a thumbs down to fans at MSG. Its meaning? “Shut the f**k up.” The 29-year-old real estate agent was then sent a written warning as Randle summoned a Knicks Security officer. But that warning couldn’t calm him down and Rainey spoke again telling Julius about his plus-minus stat at the time,
“He’ sitting right in front of me, I said, ‘Hey, you know you’re ‘-34’ right now, right?’” Rainey said told in an interview with Daily News on Friday. “Then he looked at me, was clearly trying to intimidate me, then he got security, and that was a wrap.”
That did it for both men. Randle called for Knicks security to get Dylan thrown out of the building, and they obliged. That sure would hurt anyone, but significantly more to a fan who’s visiting to watch a road game. Julius Randle meanwhile just finished with 11 points in a 100-96 blowout loss, with a ‘-34’ plus-minus.
“I’m hurt, man. I got home that night and I got really, really upset,” Rainey further said. “I felt really, really upset. I’m questioning like, ‘Why do I do this? Why do I support a team and these players who don’t care? They kicked me out of the game. Why do I devote my time and energy and emotion into something that doesn’t about me at all?’”
“This needs to be a message to the front office of the organization from a young fan of the Knicks, a loyal fan,” Rainey finished.
