Knicks Star Responds to Reggie Miller
New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson has had enough of Reggie Miller's filler.
The newly-minted All-Star addressed Miller's latest Knick knocks, ones where he further chastised Manhattanites and Madison Square Garden residents for their supposed "frontrunner" nature. Miller's latest charges against Knicks fans, which stemmed from his indirect role in the recent Eastern Conference Semifinal series against his Indiana Pacers, came on an episode of "The Mark Jackson Show," where Miller told his former teammate that MSG ticketholders "think they are God’s gift to basketball."
Brunson further solidified his status as a modern Manhattan basketball legend by standing up for Knicks fans during an interview with Bleacher Report's Taylor Rooks.
“I’m like, ‘Reg, while you were coming to do your job and didn’t want to be brought into it, you said some things that brought (you) into it,'" Brunson said. "People probably wouldn’t have said anything if you just came there and just did it. So that’s my thought on it."
Miller's attempts to distance himself from the Knicks-Pacers rivalry could be seen as bizarre considering his previously-embraced antagonist status in metropolitan lore.
Miller faced the Knicks in six tightly-contested, evenly-split playoff series between 1993 and 2000 and he happily played up his villain label when he returned to MSG to call Game 2 of the latest sequel for TNT Sports. With the past and present in mind, Knicks fans serenaded Miller with chants of "F*** you Reggie" as their team closed in on a win that gave them a 2-0 series lead.
Despite describing himself as an MSG "boogeyman" in the lead-up to Game 2, Miller reminded Knicks that he "didn't play" in the most recent series after the modern Pacers earned a seven-game victory. Miller took further issue with Brunson's fellow Knicks star Josh Hart, who approached the TNT desk to humorously inform him that fans were offering an R-rated chant, which was caught on a hot mic.
While Brunson told Rooks that Hart's reminder might've been unnecessary, Miller's insistence that Knicks fans leave him alone comes off as equally, if not more, superflulous.
"Josh should not have gone over and said that to him, 100 percent," Brunson admitted. "(But) Reggie said, ‘Hey, why am I being brought into this? I’m just coming here to do my job.' You came in to do your job. Yes, you did."
"But Reggie, you started the chirping. Reggie did start the chirping. He said this, he said, ‘The boogeyman is coming back to New York.’ He said that. He said, ‘Why should I be scared to come back to New York?’ He shouldn’t be scared to come back to New York.”
Further endearing himself to Knicks fans was hardly a necessity for Brunson, who stands as perhaps the most bonafide star Manhattan has had in years. But fighting the primary Indianapolis basketball demon of the past will surely only solidify his legend and perhaps cement his status as a New York basketball legend.