Victor Wembanyama shoving Knicks captain Jalen Brunson<\/a>, which many Knicks complained was an uncalled flagrant foul.<\/p>\n\u201cI don\u2019t think Wemby is a dirty player. I hope not. He\u2019s so tall that his elbow is at the level of everyone else\u2019s head,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Thornton told The Post he became a Knicks fan \u2014 but his heart is still with the San Antonio Spurs. Facebook\/William E. Thornton<\/p>\n
The Spurs are the only major professional sports team in San Antonio and fans are passionate about them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Spurs are the diamond in the diamond ring,\u201d Thornton, 81, said.<\/p>\n
He recalled a trip to Israel, when the mayor of Jerusalem asked him, \u201cSay hello to \u201cThe Admiral!\u201d \u2014 the nickname given to Spurs Hall of Fame center David Robinson, who served in the Navy.<\/p>\n
Thornton insisted Spurs center Wembanyama is not a dirty player.<\/p>\n
But Thornton said he\u2019s become a Knicks fan since moving to the Big Apple, and he refers to Brunson as \u201cMr. Clutch.\u201d<\/p>\n
The team is battle tested and plays well together, featuring three players who were teammates on the Villanova University NCAA championship team \u2014 Brunson, Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey know how to play with each other. It\u2019s an advantage for the Knicks,\u201d Thornton said. \u201cThe Knicks are a great group of guys.\u201d<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s the latest on the Knicks\u2019 historic 2026 NBA Finals run<\/p>\n
He also raved about the Spurs\u2019 young stars Wemby and guard Stephon Castle.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople who love basketball are seeing the best in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thornton had high praise for Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson, who he referred to as \u201cMr. Clutch.\u201d NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n
He said New York and San Antonio are different cities but share similarities with large immigrant communities \u2014 New York is an international gateway and San Antonio, on the southern border, has a huge Mexican-American and Hispanic immigrant population.<\/p>\n
He said Gotham\u2019s culture is what lured him from the Lone Star State.<\/p>\n
\u201cNew York is the city of culinary, theater, museums, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019re not going to find that anywhere.<\/p>\n
Thornton told The Post that New York City\u2019s culture is what attracted him and his wife to the Big Apple. Facebook\/William E. Thornton<\/p>\n
\u201cSan Antonio is \u2018Military USA,’\u201d Thornton said, noting the large military base and one of the largest active and retired military populations in the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an orderly city, a fun city. It\u2019s balanced.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both San Antonio and the city are sharing one thing, he noted \u2014 a great basketball series.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re seeing two great teams from two great cities. The teams mean everything to fans in both cities,\u201d he said. \u201cBroadway and the River Walk share the same heartbeat.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A former San Antonio mayor who moved to New York a decade ago said he loves the Knicks…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262573,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[222,57,9,24,55,54,1104,56,9416,9138,58,10221],"class_list":["post-262572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-madison-square-garden","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-ny","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-spurs","tag-us-news","tag-victor-wembanyama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262572\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}