{"id":661121,"date":"2026-05-23T21:09:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T21:09:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/661121\/"},"modified":"2026-05-23T21:09:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T21:09:14","slug":"fraudulent-knicks-fan-nba-world-rips-stephen-a-smiths-controversial-take-ahead-of-crucial-game-3-vs-cavaliers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/661121\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Fraudulent Knicks Fan\u2019 \u2013 NBA World Rips Stephen A. Smith\u2019s Controversial Take Ahead of Crucial Game 3 vs. Cavaliers"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New York Knicks are on an absolute roll. Since falling behind the Atlanta Hawks<\/a> 2-1 in the first round, the Knicks have won nine consecutive games, defeating the Hawks 4-2, sweeping the Philadelphia 76ers<\/a>, and taking a 2-0 lead over the Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> in the Eastern Conference Finals.<\/p>\n

Celebrity Knicks fans like Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet and Ben Stiller have been making road trips with plenty of others showing their support through other forms of media.<\/p>\n

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However, not every Knicks fan with a platform is excited. ESPN\u2019s Stephen A. Smith has a different stance.<\/p>\n

The NBA World Rips Stephen A. Smith After His Take Prior to Knicks-Cavaliers Game 3<\/p>\n

The Knicks are poised to make their first NBA Finals appearance since 1999.<\/p>\n

Despite their success and the excitement of their fanbase<\/a>, Smith does not believe a finals appearance is enough. He believes if the Knicks don\u2019t take home a title this year, they will need to make roster changes in the offseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cA Finals appearance doesn\u2019t erase or eradicate the stench of having failed to have won the championship since 1973,\u201d Smith said.<\/a><\/p>\n

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The NBA world did not take kindly to Smith\u2019s comments.<\/p>\n

Matteo Piper Jenks doesn\u2019t consider Smith to be a real Knicks fan.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbsolutely no Knicks fan thinks this way in the midst of one of our greatest playoff runs ever with a great core and future \u2026 anudder example of how @stephenasmith is a fraudulent Knicks fan,\u201d he wrote.<\/a><\/p>\n

Max Popiel is just happy the Knicks seem to have competent people in charge.<\/p>\n

\u201cIdc about 1973, I care about now Stephen A,\u201d Popiel said<\/a>. \u201cThis management is much more competent than what was going on in my childhood, and I was born in 2001.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeff Johnson joked that people are simply taking shots at the Knicks for the clicks.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe Knicks For Clicks Industrial Complex (KFCIC) is leaving here with somethin,\u201d Johnson posted<\/a>. \u201cA Knicks fan would not have these discussion less than 12 hours after the team wins their historic 9th straight playoff game, btw.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some were still surprised by the take.<\/p>\n

\u201cTeam is on a generational playoff run and we\u2019re on the media talking about roster changes??\u201d Knickstape Shmurda asked<\/a>.<\/p>\n

New York Knicks Podcast believes Smith\u2019s advice shows what the Knicks should NOT do.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Knicks should always do the opposite of whatever Stephen A says, he doesn\u2019t know ball at all,\u201dthey wrote on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The desire for a championship, especially in the basketball mecca, makes sense, but Smith\u2019s hot takes about changing the roster while the team is on a nine-game playoff win streak seem quite premature and really isn\u2019t letting yourself enjoy the moment as a fan.<\/p>\n

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READ MORE: \u2018Wemby Sold Us Dreams\u2019 \u2013 NBA World Reacts to the San Antonio Spurs Blowing Historic Lead in Game 3 Loss to Oklahoma City<\/a><\/p>\n

Game 3 between the Knicks and Cavaliers tips off at 8:00 p.m. ET Saturday, and the game can be seen on ABC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New York Knicks are on an absolute roll. Since falling behind the Atlanta Hawks 2-1 in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":661122,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[6417,15819,2242,8174,355,13331,361,2113,99,3692],"class_list":["post-661121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-atlanta-hawks","tag-ben-stiller","tag-boston-celtics","tag-cleveland-cavaliers","tag-nba","tag-nba-playoffs","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-philadelphia-76ers","tag-sports","tag-stephen-a-smith"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=661121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/661122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=661121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=661121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=661121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}