Sopranos Star Calls Out Kelly Oubre for Knicks Talk
You Sixers. You go too far.
Actor Steve Schrippa, best known for his as Bobby Baccalieri on the lauded HBO series "The Sopranos," has enlisted himself as a soldier in the New York Knicks' ongoing war with the Philadelphia 76ers. As the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series got underway, Philadelphia's Kelly Oubre Jr. fired the first verbal shots by knocking the Madison Square Garden's courtside spectator area, claiming such seats would be filled by celebrities that would "be there and not care about the game."
Baccalieri may have been the most mild-mannered character on "The Sopranos," but Oubre's comments drew Schrippa's real wrath.
“He’s talking a little bit out of his (butt) there and he’s wrong, because they’re real fans,” Schrippa, a celebrity row mainstay, told Angela Barbuti of the New York Post. "I don’t know who he’s talking about. The guys in the front row, they care. Tracy Morgan, a huge fan. Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, myself, Matthew Modine, John McEnroe, Fat Joe, all fans. They probably know more about basketball than him, believe it or not.”
MSG's celebrities took in a pair of Knicks victories at the start of the series, including an instant classic in Game 2 last Monday night. The 76ers got on the board with a 125-114 win in the most recent tilt on Thursday at Wells Fargo Center.
While the series will extend to at least five games, that ensures that the Sixers will have one more games on MSG hardwood. Oubre and Joel Embiid will likely endure an icy reception considering their respective roles in the Knicks' Thursday downfall: Embiid scored 50 points and engaged in questionable encounters with Knicks interior personnel while Oubre had 15 points on 6-of-8 from the field.
Schrippa isn't the first famous Knicks fan to respond to Oubre's barb: Stiller, who took in the games with "Madagascar" co-star Rock, labeled the veteran "Kelly Who-bre" in an X post which drew cheers from Modine, fresh off an appearance in the newly-minted Best Picture winner "Oppenheimer."
The series shifts back to Manhattan on Tuesday night for part five. Schrippa and Co. likely hope that the Knicks will have a chance to go for the knockout punch, as Game 4 tips off on Sunday afternoon on Broad Street (1 p.m. ET, ABC).
GEOFF MAGLIOCCHETTI
Editor-In-Chief at All Knicks