Few celebrities are as synonymous with the sports team they love as Spike Lee is with the New York Knicks. The legendary filmmaker is normally behind the camera in his day job, but he’s been front and center at Madison Square Garden once again as the Knicks have gotten back to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2000. Beginning tomorrow night, they’ll face the Indiana Pacers with a spot in the NBA Finals on the line, which is ironically the same scenario the Knicks were in when Spike had his most infamous moment as a fan back in 1994.
Advertisement
This was back in the days of Reggie Miller and Patrick Ewing. From his customary courtside seat, Spike was relentless in taunting Miller, but the sharpshooter turned the tables on him in Game 5 when he scored 25 fourth-quarter points, including eight in the final 8.9 seconds, to put his Pacers up 3-2.
Miller hit Spike with the choke sign, leading to an enormous backlash from Knicks fans who blamed Spike’s taunting for galvanizing the Pacers star.
With the Knicks back facing the Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals and his new movie, Highest 2 Lowest, premiering at the Cannes Film Festival, Spike stopped by the Boardroom podcast to speak on sports, movies and everything in between. His best story was when he described how former Knicks star John Starks saved him from being public enemy number one to Knicks fans everywhere.
After what Miller did in Game 5, Spike said he “was the most hated person in New York City.” Knicks fans didn’t want Spike to show up for Game 6, but he went anyway. “Before the game, I visit Mike Tyson [in prison in Indiana at the time]. So the whole prison’s against me. That game, Indiana was up in the fourth quarter, and the ushers ringed the around-the-court rope to stop a stampede.”
The Pacers were looking to close the series out, but John Starks had other ideas. “Then John Starks got hot,” Spike said. “Right now, John is tired of of me hugging him every time I see him, he says, ‘Spike, alright alright alright alright, no more hugs.'” The series shifted back to MSG for Game 7, and the Knicks overcame a fourth-quarter deficit to advance to the Finals for the first time since they won it all in 1973.
If the Knicks hadn’t come back to win, “I woulda had to move,” Spike said, comparing himself to Bill Buckner after he let the ball get by him to lose Game 6 of the 1986 World Series.
Spike will no doubt be sitting courtside when the series begins on Tuesday, but he’d do well to not make the same mistake with Pacers points guard Tyrese Haliburton as he made with Reggie Miller back in the day. Haliburton has come through in the clutch again and again in these playoffs after he was named the most overrated player in the NBA by a poll of current players conducted by The Athletic shortly before the postseason began.
Haliburton tweeted “Overrate THAT” after closing out the Bucks with a driving overtime layup three weeks ago, then hit a game-winning three in Game 2 against the top-seeded Cavs to put Cleveland in an 0-2 hole that they never recovered from. Hopefully for Knicks fans’ sake, Spike takes some advice from his own movie. “Do the right thing” and don’t make this man mad.
