Fans of the New York Knicks are not going to be forgetting about their first round playoffs series win vs the Philadelphia 76ers this past season anytime soon. Playoff wins and even appearances have been very hard to come by in New York for the last two decades, so Knicks fans have made a habit out of igniting bitter feuds with players on opposing teams, including 76ers star Joel Embiid this past year.
Recently, Knicks star point guard Jalen Brunson appeared on a live version of the Roommates Show podcast being broadcast from Central Park, and when the topic of the 76ers series came up, an impromptu NSFW chant featuring Embiid's name popped up from the crowd.
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Brunson appeared to simply laugh at the obscene chant as it arose.
Embiid is far from the first player who has found himself as the target of obscenities from Knicks fans. The New York faithful can still be regularly heard chanting the name of Atlanta Hawks star Trae Young, who tortured the team during the 2021 playoffs. In fact, one fan even spit on the point guard during that series, and the chants featuring his name often pop up at things like concerts or baseball games in the New York area even in the present day.
Can the Knicks break through this season?
The Knicks' brass invested heavily into turning their team into a legitimate contender this offseason, first by trading a shocking amount of first round picks for Brooklyn Nets forward Mikal Bridges and then by resigning forward OG Anunoby to a maximum contract extension to keep him with the franchise for the foreseeable future.
Brunson remains one of the better point guards in the NBA, and the team is eagerly anticipating the return of power forward Julius Randle, who has turned in two of the worst performances in NBA playoffs history in a New York jersey but has not gotten the opportunity to work with a team nearly this talented so far in his career.
Additionally, the high profile signings will give the Knicks a chance to move several talented key pieces from their playoff appearance a season ago to the bench, including Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo, both of whom made several key plays in the series vs the 76ers.
In any case, the Knicks will appear in the first game of the new season on October 22 vs the Boston Celtics on the road.